PUHI — Resource Recovery Solutions celebrated its formal dedication and blessing on Friday at the Puhi Metals Recycling Center site before county dignitaries, community business leaders and recycling staff. Recovery Solutions is a joint venture between Grove Farm and Refrigerant
PUHI — Resource Recovery Solutions celebrated its formal dedication and blessing on Friday at the Puhi Metals Recycling Center site before county dignitaries, community business leaders and recycling staff.
Recovery Solutions is a joint venture between Grove Farm and Refrigerant Recycling, Inc. It has been operating the Puhi Metals Recycling Center since November, when it assumed control of the facility from the county.
“My boss is already calling me ‘Sanford,’” said Michael Tresler, Grove Farm vice president. “But this is not a junkyard … It took a lot of work and time to get to where we’re at today. We worked very closely with the county to get everything to where their expectations of a recycling center were met.”
During a tour of the facility, Allan Evans, president of Refrigerant Recycling, said one of the first things visitors will notice is customer service.
“No longer will people be allowed to dump their metal recyclables on their own,” Evans said. “It’s a liability thing, but we need to know what is coming into the facility.”
Allison Fraley, the county’s Solid Waste program development coordinator, said Recovery Solutions has been offering services with no interruption since the transition.
“We were down for perhaps a week at most,” Tresler said. “But for the most part, we were accepting metals from people even while we were making the transition.”
Most metals are accepted and processed for recycling at the Puhi Metal Recycling Center, including automobiles, small motorized goods, scrap ferrous metals including steel food cans and appliances with and without refrigerants.
Recycling is free for the public. Commercially-generated items are charged rates.
A demonstration for the audience at the dedication showed what happens when a refrigerator arrives. It moves to an area where the refrigerant is removed for recycling, while non-refrigerant appliances move to the dumping area for compacting.
“A lot of the refrigerator parts are recycled,” Evans said, noting the compressors are removed, drilled to remove any liquids and shipped back to the central facility for shipment to other parts of the world.
In the event an automobile arrives, it is moved to the “enviro rack,” which Evans described as self-contained and liquids, switches and other items for recycling, including tires and wheels are removed.
Once cleaned, the automobile is put through a compactor, emerging as a block about the size of a refrigerator.
“It goes in as a car and comes out a bento” said Kaua‘i County Council Chair Jay Furfaro. “It’s amazing.”
Evans said most of the metal is sold to Schnitzer Steel Hawai‘i Corp. for recycling.
Another facet of automobile recycling is the disposition of abandoned vehicles, Evans pointing out a fenced area where abandoned vehicles are kept until the county gives the facility the green light for disposal.
“In the past, it used to be parked everywhere,” Evans said. “Now, it’s a secured area where the vehicles are parked and locked until the county gives the green light for disposal.”
Due to public safety and liability concerns, Recovery Solutions will not be selling parts and tires, states a county release.
The Puhi Metals Recycling Center is the only site on Kaua‘i currently permitted by the state Department of Health to receive and process scrap ferrous metals, white goods and vehicles.
The mission of the Puhi Metals Recycling Center is to accept and recycle abandoned, untaxed, derelict and junked motor vehicles, white goods, scrap metal and other smaller motorized goods, such as scooters, lawnmowers and motorcycles, the county’s website states.
Puhi Metals Recycling Center is open Mondays through Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Visit www.kauai.gov or call 245-6919 for more information.
