A Maui recycling company will be helping Kaua‘i County officials to divert recyclable furniture, lawnmovers and other household items from the Kekaha Landfill to help extend its lifespan. Maui Recycling Group received an $8,000 grant from Kaua‘i County to set
A Maui recycling company will be helping Kaua‘i County officials to divert recyclable furniture, lawnmovers and other household items from the Kekaha Landfill to help extend its lifespan.
Maui Recycling Group received an $8,000 grant from Kaua‘i County to set up the group’s Aloha Shares Network program, a landfill diversion and refuse project, on the Garden Island.
Through the program, the Maui Recycling Group acts as a link between Maui businesses and organizations that want to donate goods and nonprofit groups, including churches, which make use of the recycled goods.
For the Kaua‘i project, the Maui group would keep a data base of Kaua‘i businesses and organizations and nonprofit groups and link both parties up when there is a donation of goods, according to Wilma Nakamura, executive director of the Maui Recycling Group.
The Kaua‘i project was recently launched and is getting off the ground, Nakamura said.
When the project becomes more well-accepted among Kauaians, it could support other debris-diversion projects of the county, she said.
Kaua‘i County leaders are currently seeking permission from state and federal environmental officials for another vertical expansion of the Kekaha Landfill.
The approval of the request is estimated to prolong the lifespan of the facility to 2010.
If the request is denied, the volume of trash the landfill can accept could reach capacity by summer 2005, county officials have said.
At this point, county leaders have not officially designated an area on Kaua‘i for the next landfill.
The goods that could be diverted from the Kekaha Landfill through the Maui-supported recycling project can be used by Kauaians for many years, Nakamura said.
From her office on Maui, Nakamura contacts groups on Kaua‘i which want to make donations and connects them with nonprofit groups that want a particular item, a lamp, furniture or refrigerator, for instance.
There is no exchange of money between the groups, and nonprofit groups can use the goods or pass them onto members of their group for use, Nakamura said.
Homeless folks also could be eligible to receive the goods, she said.
“The program is up, and we are ready to go,” Nakamura said. “We are waiting for donors to come forward and register.”
Organizations wanting to make donations or groups that would like to receive goods can call Nakamura toll-free at 1-866-542-2232 or go to www.alohashares.org. Nakamura’s email is recycle@alohashares.org.
The benefits of the project on Kaua‘i, as they have been for Maui County, would be threefold, she said.
“The donor avoids the costs of storage, hauling and tipping fees at the landfill, and receives a receipt for tax purposes,” Nakamura said in a statement. “
Aloha Shares Network project has been a success story for Maui County, Nakamura said.
Through the program, about 100 tons of debris have been diverted from Maui County’s waste stream over the past six years, Nakamura said.
Goods that have been circulated among communities in Maui are still in use, resulting in a reduction of debris to Maui County refuge facilities.
Operators of a hotel on Maui had 110 beds they wanted to dispose of, and instead of dumping the beds at a trash facility on Maui, the beds were re-circulated on that island for the benefit of residents needing beds, Nakamura said.
“There are renovations of condominiums, dishwashers, stoves (that could be disposed of at a landfill on Maui,) and they are not being dumped,” Nakamura said. “There is a big need for reuse, and that is great.”
Proponents of the Maui Recycling Group initially wanted to take the program statewide, Nakamura said.
That wasn’t possible because of lack of funding to cover a toll-free line and to hire someone to manage a statewide program, Nakamura said.
Proponents of the Maui Recycling Group strive to provide public education, research, training and technical assistance “to encourage environmentally and economically sound waste management systems” on Maui and in the state.
Maui Recycling Group, which started 15 years ago, has received grants from federal, state and county agencies. They include Kaua‘i County, Maui County, the state Department of Health, the state of Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism’s Clean Hawaii Center.
