LIHU‘E — Recycling HI-5 containers should become even more convenient, said James Higginbotham of Kaua‘i Community Recycling Services. The company has expanded its redemption centers to five on the island with the opening of a Lihu‘e center and, through the
LIHU‘E — Recycling HI-5 containers should become even more convenient, said James Higginbotham of Kaua‘i Community Recycling Services.
The company has expanded its redemption centers to five on the island with the opening of a Lihu‘e center and, through the help of a state grant, are waiting on the final solid waste permits to have nine reverse vending machines turned on, Higginbotham said Thursday.
“I pass Nawiliwili and see all those people lined up, so we opened up a redemption center in Lihu‘e to help all those people who wait in lines to redeem their HI-5 containers,” Higginbotham said. “We never close for lunch.”
KCRS opened its Lihu‘e redemption center about three weeks ago in the Lihu‘e Industrial Park on Oihana Street located across from Coca Cola of Kaua‘i and next door to the Jack Wada Electronics outlets.
“We want to make it more convenient for people to be able to redeem the HI-5 containers,” Higginbotham said.
Hours at the new Lihu‘e center are from noon to 6 p.m., Mondays through Fridays.
Higginbotham is hopeful that these longer operating hours, especially the evening closing, will be able to accommodate people’s schedules where they can come in after work or school.
The nine reverse vending machines include three for plastic, three for aluminum cans and three for glass and will be placed at the more popular KCRS redemption centers once the final solid waste permits have been cleared by the state, Higginbotham said. He is hopeful the first machines will be operating by the end of this month.
“These are the latest models from Tomra and should have the issues with the older models corrected,” he said. “Plus, users don’t need to wait to redeem their receipts.”
Higginbotham said customers can simply hold on to the receipts and redeem them at any of the five redemption centers on the island at a time more convenient for them.
KCRS is owned and operated by Higginbotham and Peter Manos and also hosts redemption centers at Hanalei, Kilauea, Koloa and Kekaha.
Operating hours at Hanalei are from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays.
The other center hours include Kekaha on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Koloa on Thursdays and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Kilauea on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Higginbotham is hopeful some of the bigger retail stores might consider installing them at their locations to make redemption of HI-5 containers even more convenient.
KCRS started as a curbside recycling service in 2001 and operated as a twice-weekly collection service for $10 a month, he said.
“The program was very successful with about a thousand customers registered. The program stopped when the Island Recycling Resource Center closed,” he said. “But we took our recycling knowledge and opened the community redemption centers.”
Higginbotham said the Kekaha center is the busiest one in the KCRS network, processing more than 100,000 containers in a single day.
