It appears Kauai’s nickname is in danger of being edited, once again, from the “garden island” to the “garbage island.” All across Kaua’i, impromptu, illegal dumps are springing up and doing brisk business. A small percentage of the population would
It appears Kauai’s nickname is in danger of being edited, once again, from the “garden island” to the “garbage island.”
All across Kaua’i, impromptu, illegal dumps are springing up and doing brisk business. A small percentage of the population would apparently rather cast away junk cars, non-working refrigerators and similar items near their own neighborhoods than dispose of them properly at county-run transfer stations or the Kekaha landfill.
Beauty, truly, remains in the eye of the beholder. What used to be a scenic and safe spot to walk or ride bicycles with children in Old Koloa Town has become a dump site on Knudsen family property near the spot that was the subject of the lead photograph of The Garden Island’s Christmas Day edition: A lighted manger scene.
“When you don’t look at the trash, you can see how beautiful the area is,” said Krstafer Pinkerton, a long-time Koloa resident who uses the area to avoid congested Koloa Road in town during regular walks or bike rides with his children.
Just down Weliweli Road from Old Koloa Town, a vacant lot owned by Kaua’i County at an intersection near Koloa Neighborhood Center is routinely transformed into a neighborhood depository for unwanted large appliances (water heaters, washers, dryers, refrigerators, freezers, ranges).
Soon after it is cleaned up by county crews, someone starts the illegal dumping cycle all over again, according to Beth Tokioka, county spokeswoman.
Large landowners, even multi-millionaires like AOL/Time Warner’s Steve Case, are plagued with abandoned cars on their private property. At one time, former Lihu’e Plantation manager Lyle Tabata offered to pay to charter a helicopter to show reporters the hundreds of abandoned vehicles that littered the 19,000 acres of former LP land, most of which is now owned by Case.
Russell Sugano, the county’s Department of Public Works chief in the road construction and maintenance division, can rattle off several street names where illegal dumping occurs regularly. Kealia Road used to be a hot spot, but hasn’t been in recent memory. A community cleanup that resulted in tons of trash getting piled along Hehi Road leading to Hanama’ulu Beach Park was added to by illegal dumpers, but has since been cleaned up, he said.
In Kapahi, Kainahola Road, off Kawaihau Road near Upper Kapahi Reservoir, is normally a scenic walk for local resident Glenn Mickens. Lately, it’s been marred by the presence of abandoned cars and nearly every other kind of trash imaginable, he said.
More and more, conscientious residents are calling on government to crack downon those responsible for the illegal dumping rather than merely settling for cleaning up the messes of inconsiderate slobs.
“Shame on them,” said Roland Licona of Wailua, who thinks the county should track down the last registered owners of abandoned vehicles and go through personal trash for clues on the dumpers’ identities.
“They’re breaking the law. Why aren’t we going after them?” he asked.
Licona recalled when the county recently erected a sign offering a $1,000 reward leading to the arrest and conviction of persons leaving vehicles in the vicinity of the Kapa’a transfer station. The next day, an abandoned vehicle was resting at the base of the sign.
“That’s the irresponsible people we’re dealing with,” he said.
The current system, in which the county’s contractor picks up abandoned vehicles and the next day more take their place, is not working, Licona continued.
Current laws should be studied, and new ones enacted, to go after illegal dumpers, he said. More than that, though, he wants fellow Kaua’i residents to show concern for the island.
“Be responsible citizens. Take care of it properly,” he said.
Licona said the “closed system” that is this island needs a method that will help ensure that brand-new motor vehicles brought here don’t eventually end up in abandoned canefields as they age and become junkers.
When Licona sat on the now-defunct county solid waste task force, ideas were tossed around about how to deal with cars before they become junk cars. A surcharge on new-vehicle sales was discussed, as well as how other counties discourage illegal dumping of vehicles. In one county, for example, citizens are given $50 checks for properly disposing of unwanted vehicles.
A system that not only holds the last registered owner responsible for disposal of an unwanted vehicle but rewards those who finally rid the island of the unwanted junk would be better, Licona said.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
