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~':rll~' .i RIFER ENVIRONMENTAL r~' 1975 [1M/ 113QrAte • FbA~ni,OR 97229 Ley la ' 5fSi614{Y194•Fwt5(13643~3705•t~Qcaroer~llcrf~ ~wu~'. rat f"l. ".i.. aii~; g May 28, 2004 d ~ rti ~ .1 R E}Mi,~ n ~u ~ it r"ir1P~5fi ti Ml 113: & + rr~i 1 'vis. Barbara Bell, Director " ~ ~'<~Mb:'rttr~ ~ Department of Environmental Management 2S Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii 9(720252 RE: Qucstiais regarding the impact of dca Sort Stativn on imp!cmerftation of a Waste Reduction 'Technology (\VRT) You asked for clarification on two questions: 1. !s construction of the Sort Station critical now given that the County intends to procure a Waste Reduction Tcclmology'? 2. Will the Sort Station be irrelevan±, and a waste of money, when WRT is implemented'? 'I7te construction of the Sort Station. on a rzpid timeline is critical to the County, and to the Counry's goal of cunstnfcting a WRT, for two principle reasons. First is the impending closure of the Hilo landfill and the need for a facility to manage East side waste at that time. The procurement and eunslruutiun of a WR"T will take several years -site scle:ction, permitting, E1S, community input, polemial legal challenges, ate. -and is fraught with uncci•`ainty. This is the experience everywhere that such a technology is implemented. The County ,vould risk having to haul all waste to Puuanahulu in small vehicles if the Hilo landfill is furued to close before the'NRT is completed. This would be very costly and have an unacceptable comntunih~ impact. Secondly, the Sorl Station will be a critical part ofthe County's rccyclitig system, in coordination with the transfer stations and the WAT. There is a need fur a central facility to prepare recyclabtes fut market, as woll as to handle bulky raterials like scrap me+als and construction and demohtion dehris. This function will help extend the li fc of the Hilo landfill, and will ba an integral part irf the County's lung-term recycling program. To the sauond question, the Sort Stativn is beitt~ specifically designed to create opportunities that support and complnnent a WRT. Its design i. highly flexible and will be atilt to play several functions in support of W1ZT, to.' example: • Pre-processing of waste from the transfer statiwts before delivery tv the WRT, such as screening and removal of incompatible materials, e.g. hazardous wastes and bulky mate rials, and recovery of recyelab'es. 'The sp¢cifications of the WRT will dctcnnine. precisely what pre-processing the Sort Station performs. • Processing of targeted commercial loads that arc rich in recyclables, for example, corrugated eardbvard and other paper. • Receipt and pre-prvicessing of public self-haul loads from the Hily area for removal of recyclable and reusable items. • ~ ince technologies always suffer downtime, fhc Sort Station will assure continuous service to E,ist Hawai' c.