NIUMALU — People come from all over the island to Garden Isle Disposal to recycle their mixed paper (junk mail, etc.). One staunch recycler even takes the day off work to meet the weekday hours of Garden Isle Disposal (GID),
NIUMALU — People come from all over the island to Garden Isle Disposal to
recycle their mixed paper (junk mail, etc.).
One staunch recycler even
takes the day off work to meet the weekday hours of Garden Isle Disposal (GID),
holder of the county’s Kaua’i Recycles program contract.
So, why is the
company ending its collection of junk mail at the close of business
today?
Liabilities, health hazards and increased expenses, the company
said. That means that the nine tons of mixed paper GID had been collecting each
month, and shipping to Jakarta for recycling into paper towel and other
products, will now have no legal final destination other than the Kekaha
Landfill.
A proposal GID made to the county to continue the mixed-paper
recycling program at the six recycling sites from Waimea to Princeville was met
by a comment that the administration has “other priorities,” according to Mayor
Maryanne Kusaka.
While it would be easy for her to prepare paperwork to ask
the County Council for the $30,000 GID says it needs to continue to recycle
mixed paper (cereal boxes, toilet paper and paper towel cardboard rolls, junk
mail and similar items), Kusaka said the fact remains that in this tight county
budget the money probably could be found, but at the expense of what other
program?
Kusaka thanked GID for collecting mixed paper at its Niumalu Road
facility here, told the council she recycles at work and at home, and like
everyone else in the council chambers wants to cut down on the amount of trash
going into Kekaha Landfill.
But recycling is expensive, currently costing
the county around $319 a ton. If mixed paper was put back into the equation,
the cost would move to $347 per ton, Kusaka said.
The Mayor said the county
may be able to find money to help GID place a mixed-paper recycling container
at the Lihu’e Transfer Station, perhaps with county funds to help pay for the
hauling of the container to GID’s yard.
Also, if the county’s budget
picture happens to brighten, there could be a chance to reinstate the
mixed-paper component of the recycling contract, she told the
council.
Kusaka said she may hire a recycling coordinator to fill a vacant
position in the county Department of Public Works, and her administration is in
the process of formulating an education plan for large trash producers,
schools, and individuals.
No other county recycles mixed paper, and GID
admitted problems with contamination (non-recyclables tossed into recycling
containers which ruin the recyclables, making them suitable only for the
landfill) when it had mixed-paper bins at the six community recycling sites,
Kusaka said.
It’s frustrating to pay over $300 a ton to recycle, then have
the recyclables contaminated and then have to pay again to have that trash
landfilled, Kusaka said.
And it’s frustrating for GID to try to negotiate
with the county when one official says there may be money to reinstate the
mixed-paper recycling program at the community sites, or even just put one bin
at the Lihu’e Transfer Station, then have those officials come back later and
say there are no funds for either of those proposals, said Alvin Tadani, GID
operations manager.
“We’re bouncing back and forth here,” Tadani told the
council. “It just seems like they’re not on the same page,” he said of the
administration.
A brief chronology leading to the current situation shows
that GID was the only bidder for the county’s Kaua’i Recycles contract. The bid
was opened in November, and GID’s bid of $26,000 a month (up from $18,500 for
the 36-month period 1996 to 1999) was considered too high by the
county.
Negotiations ensued, with the monthly charge whittled down to just
over $20,000, but at the expense of the mixed-paper recycling and education
components of the contract.
The company stood its ground when the
administration suggested eliminating the Waimea recycling site, Tadani
said.
After hearing in a mid-December meeting with Wally Rezentes, Sr.,
Kusaka’s administrative assistant, that there would probably be money for
continuation of the mixed-paper component, GID was hopeful, said Steve Kaui,
GID account executive.
Cathy Shibuya, GID president, said the county agreed
to handle the educational component of the recycling program, but did very
little in that arena. That, she feels, helped lead to contamination problems at
the community collection sites, which meant GID had to landfill about half of
the mixed paper it collected.
Kusaka said she felt the amount allocated for
the recycling contract was sufficient, and felt the program to be eliminated
was the mixed-paper component, specifically because of the contamination
problem.
“That’s all we felt we could afford at the time,” Kusaka said.
When it became clear the mixed-paper collection at the community sites was
to be eliminated, and in response to community concerns, GID began in
mid-December allowing recyclers to drop off mixed paper in its lobby.
What
started off as a two-ton-a-month collection bloomed into a nine-ton-a-month
gathering, with GID workers including Shibuya taking the time to sort out
non-recyclables and provide valuable one-on-one education to some of the
island’s most determined recyclers.
The contamination problem at the
community collection sites (GID used bins with plastic lids that allowed larger
items into the bins, which meant some contamination of mixed paper) and the
education component were items GID hoped to discuss with the administration in
February of this year.
But that meeting never took place.
All of this
led to a flurry of activity last week, with letters, telephone calls and
meetings aimed (from GID’s standpoint) at saving the mixed-paper recycling
program.
Kaua’i residents have done a “superb” job of recycling mixed
paper, Kaui said. “The residents of Kaua’i are committed to doing something
good.”
In April, GID shipped off 31 tons of mixed paper to Jakarta where,
depending on market conditions at the time the shipment arrives, the company
receives up to $50 a ton, or has to pay the recycler $10 a ton to take the
product, he explained.
It costs GID around $60 a ton to process and ship
mixed paper. If the company breaks even, it’s doing well, but for the most part
recycling is not a money-making venture for GID, Kaui said.
People wanted
GID to continue offering the mixed-paper recycling, as a community service,
Tadani said. But the company needs to make a profit to continue doing
business.
“We’re just trying to survive,” he said.
It also needs the
landfill, the final destination for all the non-recyclables GID currently
hauls. And the mixed-paper diversion helps prolong the finite life of the
landfill, he said.
But the company became increasingly concerned with
public and employee safety, as traffic around the company’s compound increased.
Also, concerns about liability, fire, contamination and sanitation issues led
to the company’s decision to halt acceptance of mixed paper here, Tadani
said.
Around 10 people a day brought mixed paper to GID for
recycling.
Besides saving landfill space, the recycling saves trees, water,
oil and other things, Shibuya said.
The subject of mandatory recycling was
brought up by Councilmember Billy Swain, to which Kusaka responded the island
doesn’t have the economies of scale to make mandatory recycling at least
break-even.
She also reiterated her position that a charge for curbside
rubbish collection will lead to illegal dumping in valleys, along highways, and
in other areas of the island.
Though at first she seemed reluctant to
discuss new solid waste initiatives the administration is working on, she
mentioned a $10,000 plastic-shredding machine the county is considering buying
that would turn plastic bottles into matter suitable for mulch, landfill
covering and other uses.
A source-reduction program would allow people to
stop receiving certain junk mail before it even gets to the island. That’s the
Mail Preference Service, Direct Marketing Association, P.O. Box 9008,
Farmingdale, NY 11735.
Information sent to the service should include all
variations of family names and addresses of those wishing to be taken off
mailing lists, and the types of mailing lists you’d like to be taken off of,
said Beth Tokioka, county public information officer.
A Web site has
details as well, www.brown.edu. Search for waste and junk mail topics. Another
Web site, www.ecofuture.org, has lots of information about mailing
lists.
Swain said he hopes the county and GID can work together, learn, and
set common priorities, in more of an educational setting than Wednesday’s
“adversarial setting.”
The junk mail problem, Swain said, is a small piece
of a large solid-waste quandary.
Councilmember Randal Valenciano hopes the
council can work with the administration to help set recycling
priorities.
People need to refrain from littering, not contaminate
recyclables, and take better care of the island, said Councilmember Jimmy
Tokioka.
