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The 2019 Plan update began in the spring of 2018 and involved meetings that included the Solid Waste Advisory Committee (SWAC) and the County of Hawai'i Solid Waste Division(SWD) of the Department of Environmental Management(DEM). The last update of the Plan was produced in 2009. The SWAC was appointed by the Mayor,participated in 13 meetings, toured facilities, reviewed each draft Plan chapter, debated key issues, developed plan goals (provided in Chapter 1) and shaped recommendations. Public input was welcome throughout the process in a variety of ways including monthly SWAC meetings; routine posting of all draft documents, agendas, and meeting minutes to the County's online records archive; and two informal public informational meetings. Following review and comment by the State of Hawai`i Department of Health(HDOH),the proposed Plan was made available for public review for 60 days, which included two public hearings. Meeting minutes,testimony, comments, responses, etc. are included in the appendices. With the closure of South Hilo Sanitary Landfill, deteriorating global recycling markets, and fiscal concerns,the Plan update focuses on waste diversion, with an emphasis on education, outreach, and public awareness. Outside of maintaining or improving existing facilities,the Plan does not generally recommend the construction of new facilities or operations. Instead,the County will assess how the existing facilities and programs are functioning and to identify solutions best suited to current and projected future conditions. This includes seeking joint solutions with state and other Hawaiian jurisdictions. During the Plan update,the SWAC identified and rated 83 recommendations and associated implementation strategies, using a high, moderate, or low to prioritize. The categories were: Source Reduction; Recycling Bioconversion, and Markets; Recycling, Bioconversion, and Markets; Education, Outreach, and Public Awareness; Household Hazardous Waste (HHW)/Electronic Waste (E-Waste); Special Waste; Collection and Transfer; Residuals Management; and Administration and Funding. To further prioritize, each SWAC member was tasked to identify their top five recommendations or themes. Recommendations that received a number one ranking were weighted(scored)higher than those that received a number five ranking. Additionally, because some of the recommendations are thematically similar,they were combined. Of the 83 recommendations, six recommendations or themes were identified by more than one SWAC member as priorities. The top six recommendations identified by the SWAC are: • Conduct education, outreach, and public awareness—multiple recommendations. • Regularly review and, when appropriate,renegotiate WHSL contract—Chapter 10, Recommendation 2. • Conduct additional household hazardous waste (HHW) collection events—Chapter 6, Recommendation 5. • Change County code to allow small businesses to drop off recyclables at recycling and transfer stations—Chapter 8, Recommendation 5. • Establish goals that are expressed and measured in terms of environmental impacts (e.g., greenhouse gas emissions,toxicity, energy use) and consider full life cycle impacts, in County of Hawai'i is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer.