Kapa‘a recycling bin leaves main highway

The high-yield recycling bin located at Kojima Store off Kuhio Highway in Kapa‘a will be moved to a low-traffic area at the end of Kahau Road today, according to county officials.

The move will make way for a new store to be leased in a space adjacent to the grocery, Glen Kojima said.

“We regret that it has to be moved,” he said. “We’re all for recycling, but it just doesn’t fit with the new plans.”

Garden Isle Recycling will transport the bin to the Kapa‘a county baseyard across from the Kawaihau Little League Main Diamond at the new Kapa‘a Ball Park today.

Kilauea resident Ava Pommerenk, who stopped at the bin on her way through Kapa‘a yesterday, said the new location could mean fewer materials get recycled.

“Making it so people don’t even see it — out of sight, out of mind,” she said.

From July 2005 to June 2006, the bin netted about 21 tons of recyclable items each month — about one-fifth of the materials collected at Kaua‘i Recycles bins around the island, said Allison Fraley, recycling coordinator for the county.

That yield represents a 4-ton increase over months in the previous year, she said, and places the Kapa‘a bin in a tight race with the Hanalei Transfer Station bin, which pulled in 21.7 tons during the same period.

“I have concerns pulling it off the main highway,” Fraley said.

The county will post a banner at old site, and the store will hand out flyers with a map to the new location as well, she said.

Radio spots will also advertise the move.

The county has eight drop boxes located across the island. The boxes accept glass, aluminum cans, plastic Nos. 1 and 2, junk mail, newspaper and cardboard. The bins diverted about 89 tons of recyclables last year, Fraley said.

For more information, call the County Recycling Office at 241-6891.

• Charlotte Woolard, business writer, can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 251) or cwoolard@kauaipubco.com.