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From TRASH to Wrl & MJh Fashion For the past five yearsRecycling For Arts Sake , a juried Recycled Art Show, has taken place at the East Hawai'i Cultural Center in Hilo in September. The "Trash Show" is the brain child of trash artist Ira Ono, and open to all Big Island artists brave enough to enter this innovative art form. Each year the opening of the event has been highlighted with Robin Worley's revolutionary fashion show, Haute Trash. Working with other talented designers in the community, Robin presents a hilarious spoof of high fashion shows. She trans- forms newspaper, Lions Coffee containers, and goat feed bags into Haute Coutre el- egant halter dresses, attractive jacket -vests and kicky cowboy ensembles. The mes- sage is to take a humorous look at the dis- posable culture in which we live and ,not so incidentally, keep a lot of "waste" out of the landfill. After seeing Haute Trash, you'll never look at your garbage the same way again. The MRF 'ttoiy Continued from pa e 1 placed on an automated line where magnets and anti magnets separate out fermis area alumintmi metals; and the recyclables processed with baling equipment The alternative is a "source separated" facility or "Clean MRF„ which processes only recyclable materials that residents and business people set aside for this purpose. This involves a smaller building where materials come in and go directly into the appropriate sorters and balers. Afaality which can handle 50 tpd would make adent in the waste stream with the investmeutofafew balm, conveyor belts and front end loaders. 1 dont think it's possible to get enough clean raw materials to operate a source separated recy- cling 50 tpd facility for eight hours a day," said Lang Capellas, Solid Waste Administration for the County Dept of public Works. "How many people on this island really recycle? Not ever 1001o." "There's no doubt that a Clean MRF requires changes in habits and behaviors and even the way we thinkaboutwaste," said John Harder ,Solid WasteCoordinahorfortheStateDept of Health 'But this can be achieved with education and promotion; 50 tpd might not be attainable right away, but other counties have proved that high recycling rates are achievable over time." VA%m are the advantages b chadvantimjes of each tedhrhokW? It is clear that the primary, and possibly the only, advantage for a Dirty MRF (see sidebar) is that is requires little or no modification of the existing trash collection system. This is of some consequence on Hawaii, where there are about 25 commercial and residential trash hauler, 21 transfer stations with high transportation casts, and no control over the haulers or collection systems. Diversion rates (the amount of the total waste stream that is kept out—diverted—from the land- fill) between mixed wasteandsource separated facilities aredifficulttocompare (Wrtheithertypeof facility, the construction of nearby landfills to handle grubbing, construction and demolition materi- als and clean, green waste composting areas would lead to the diversion of up to 30a/o of the island's waste stream immediately.) Dirty MRFs often claim diversion rates as high as 70%. The proposal before the county claim a 65% diversion rate. But the actual extraction of recyclable materials is around 15%, and these are of low value due to contamination with garbage and liquids. Additional processing equipment and time would be required to sell these materials in Asia's or the mainland's high quality, high vol- ume markets. The rest of the "diversion" comes from taking out the production of a 1) refuse derived fuel A whichwoukinotbepemuttedfor usemHawaii Yl or 2) low grade compost that includes dirt, grit, YYY food stuffs and green waste contaminated by chemicals, plastic, glass and metal particles. A large part of the mixed solid waste compost of- ten ends up back in the landfillas expensive land- fill cover! Garbage hi - Garbage Out is true for recycled materials as well as computers. pec cling Can any faaity be built before the Filo landihll doses in October 19967 Probably not, which means that, fora while at least, about 200 tpd of waste are going to be tricker! from Hilo to the landfill at Puuanahulu in North Kona But another advantage of the Clean MRF concept is that small (50 tpd) faah- ties could be constructed fairly quickly at major AMnatural Qacif is tofu Producers of "Firm Tofu" and other quality natural foods PO Box 11001 • Hilo, Hawai'i 96721 • (808) 935-3220 � C. � Aloha Plastic Recycling Bringing you tomorrow's solutions today. LONG LASTING RECYCLED PLASTIC PRODUCTS Picnic Tables • Park Benches Dimensional Lumber Curb Stops • Fence Posts Landscape Lumber Trash Can Holders 590 Lipoa Parkway, Ste 222 Kihei, Hawai'i 96753 (808) 875-2523