Pilot Recycling Project is Underway
Hawaii Kai impresses City with its recycling efforts

by PAULA BENDER
Sun Correspondent

Hawaii Kai residents quickly figured out that sorting out the recyclables into the blue can and green waste into the green can, made it possible to exist with the now once-weekly pickup of the gray can. Residents questioned how the city could cope with everything recyclable put into one curbside container.

"We are using a single-stream system that makes it easy and convenient for households," Jones said. "It's been determined that these co-mingling system programs have much higher participation and recovery rates, which is our goal."

For the pilot program, residents in Hawaii Kai and Mililani deposit newspapers, all colors of glass bottles and jars, plastics, and corrugated cardboard into the same can. Twice a month, on alternate weekends, the blue and green cans are collected by the familiar Department of Environmental Services yellow refuse trucks.

While the green waste is taken to Hawaiian Earth Products at Campbell Industrial Park to be converted into mulch, among other things, drivers take the recyclables to the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) contractor, RRR Recycling Services in Campbell Industrial Park. The recyclables are placed on a conveyor belt to a sort line where blowers and eddy currents help sort it. Employees manually pick out odd items while the rest move along an elevated transit line and fall into appropriate bins below. Each commodity is compacted, baled and loaded into trucks, taken to the docks and shipped off.

Jones said that feedback to her department is mostly regarding how to separate the recyclables. Because they are made of chip-board, cereal, cookie and cracker boxes don't make the cut. Neither do water bottle tops or the plastic lids for mayonnaise and peanut butter jars.

"If it's a plastic bottle with a neck you can toss it in the blue bin," Jones said. "That includes soda bottles, milk jugs, laundry detergent bottles, shampoo and cream rinse bottles, even vitamin bottles. The more experienced recycler can look for the triangle embossed in the plastic with either the number one or the number two in it. Those can go into the blue bin, too."

Households that find they need more than one gray, green or blue can may call the City's recycling office at (808) 768-3200. Up to two additional green or blue bins, and a second gray bin will be delivered. The second gray bin is to be put out with the first gray bin for the Wednesday collection day. The city will monitor those homes with second gray bins to assure they are fully recycling and demonstrate a need for the additional bin. For more information, visit the city's website, www.opala.org.