LIHUE — Citing rising costs and inadequate funding, Reynolds Recycling is making cuts around the island. One move was the permanent closure of the Lawai redemption center last Saturday. The Lawai location, which was open three days a week, had
LIHUE — Citing rising costs and inadequate funding, Reynolds Recycling is making cuts around the island.
One move was the permanent closure of the Lawai redemption center last Saturday. The Lawai location, which was open three days a week, had been open since 2005. Its closure resulted in two employees losing their jobs.
“We made the decision to reduce because we don’t have adequate funds to support a redemption location in every neighborhood,” said Terry Telfer, president of Reynolds Recycling based on Oahu. “Because of that, we had to either close locations or reduce operating hours.”
Domingo Ansagay of Kalaheo was waiting for Reynolds Recycling Nawiliwili to open after lunch Tuesday afternoon.
“I used to go to the Lawai facility, but they closed it so now I have to travel too far. Gasoline costs money, and even if (recycling) is too much work, gas cost money so I keep doing,” he said.
Ansagay has been recycling for more than five years, starting after retiring from the Kekaha Sugar Plantation.
“My friends, they call me up and I go pick up,” Ansagay said. “But I have to separate the stuff and get ready to bring down. The people, they call with all kinds of things, even aluminum car wheels. At my age, I don’t know how much longer I can do because they closed Lawai, and now I have to travel too far.”
The state funds 3 cents per container on Neighbor Island services and 2 cents per container on Oahu.
Additionally, the Deposit Beverage Container Program, which is sponsored by the state, charges beverage distributors a 5-cent deposit fee and a 1-cent container fee for each beverage container, said Janice Okubo, state Department of Health spokeswoman.
Fees collected by the state from the beverage distributor are then deposited into the DBC Special Fund, which is used to cover the costs of the program, she said.
For fiscal year 2015, the DBC program had revenue of $62.7 million and total expenditures of $61.9 million, Okubo said.
But with an increase in freight processing and shipping costs, the state’s funding is no longer enough, Telfer said.
“Nothing has changed, there has been 11 years of service increases, but the amount the state gives us has remained the same,” he said.
It is a sentiment echoed by Larry Dill, chief engineer of the county’s public works department.
“The handling fee paid by the state to reimburse operators for running redemption centers has not increased,” he said. “Meanwhile, the cost of doing business has increased and the commodity value has decreased.”
The cuts are reflective of a real struggle for redemption center operators, Dill said.
“Recycling is a tough business,” he said.
Okubo could not say if the state should be offering more funding for recycling programs.
Increased service charges, coupled with basic operating bills like compensation and providing medical insurance and drug testing, worker’s comp and public liability to employees, has put a strain on the company, Telfer said.
Statewide, 65 employees in 20 locations have been let go, he said.
“Insurance services like medical and dental have increased,” he said.
The company is also cutting back on hours at the Lihue and Kapahi centers, the release said. Both locations will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. They are closed for lunch from noon to 1:30 p.m. They are no longer open Mondays.
Making the cuts gives the company wiggle room to fight for more funding to reopen the centers in the future, Telfer said.
But cutting back on redemption centers is not a reflection on recycling participation on the island, he said.
“The overall volume of recyclables in 2015 was greater than in 2014, so that’s the good news,” he said. “Kauai is a good market for people who want to recycle.”
Public participation and interest in recycling gives Telfer hope the company will be running at full speed again.
“We’re going to fight for another day,” he said. “We hope the state will understand recycling does deserve an increase.”
Chris Valin, who opened Kauai Curbside Recycling last year, believes the cost-saving closures are a step in the wrong direction.
“This isn’t a good trend in terms of how much recycling gets done and how much of a priority it is to the island in general,” Valin said. “Recycling needs to be prioritized, and having less recycling services available is not the right trend.”
Valin said there is more work to be done in regards to recycling.
“The county needs to continue to push forward and set a higher bar for how to responsibly deal with waste, and recycling is the way to do it,” he said.
‘Landfill space is a precious commodity’
During fiscal year 2015, Kauai residents and guests produced 81,500 tons of waste, Dill said.
The county’s recycling budget for fiscal year 2016 is $3.2 million, Dill said. And Kauai’s current diversion rate is 44 percent, up from 29 percent in 2008.
“The diversion rate has continued to grow each year,” Dill said.
During fiscal year 2014, for example, 76,061 tons of waste went into the Kekaha landfill, and 57,389 tons were diverted. This brought the diversion rate to 43 percent, Dill said.
But the landfill has about 10 more years before it reaches capacity, and officials are looking to build another one.
The proposed 270-acre landfill could cost several hundred million dollars, according to a previous story in The Garden Island. The landfill, which officials hope will be constructed on a piece of undeveloped land in Maalo, will have a life of 300 years before it will be filled to capacity.
Until the landfill is built, recycling is one option to save landfill space in Kekaha, Dill said.
“Landfill space is a precious commodity and is in short supply, especially on Kauai,” he said.
Paper, plastic and food waste are among the highest percentages of waste on Kauai, according to a 2007 waste characterization study.
According to that study, 33.9 percent of waste produced on the island was paper. Food waste and plastic took second and third place, coming in at 13.7 percent and 13.5 percent, respectively.
Items like rubber, durables and other organic items make up tenths of the waste produced on the island.
The county is in the process of contacting a consultant to perform another waste characterization study, Dill said.
“We believe the data has changed since then,” he said.
Kauai’s diversion rate is close to the statewide average.
In 2015, Hawaii, Maui, Oahu and Kauai had an average of 43 percent diversion rate, which is up from the 36.8 percent the previous year, according to solid waste diversion statistics from the Hawaii Department of Health.
Additionally, the DBC program has collected almost 7 billion containers since October 2015, Okubo said. Aluminum was the highest recyclable collected in the state for fiscal year 2015, according to DOH data.
Just over 3 million aluminum containers were collected during that year, according to the data.
On Kauai, there are no regulations governing whether and what businesses and construction companies recycle. But Lyle Tabata, Kauai County’s deputy director of public works, said his department is working to get new ordinances on the books that will require businesses and construction companies to recycle certain materials.
Other new or planned efforts to boost islandwide recycling include a “pay as you throw” system for residential refuse hauling, which encourages waste reduction through economic incentive, and adding blue recycling carts and green yard waste carts at the curb.
The county is making strides to promote recycling on the island, and relies on outreach programs like education booths, radio interviews, newspaper ads, and school presentations to educate the public about the importance of recycling.
“Recycling saves valuable materials, like paper fibers and metals that can be reprocessed, reducing the need for virgin product,” Dill said. And it reduces the use of water and energy sources such as oil, coal and gas.”
