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<br /> Tony Gordon Page 1 of 2 <br /> <br /> <br /> P/FG <br /> Murashige, Laura <br /> <br /> From: Tony Gordon [alchemy@sover.net] <br /> Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 12:09 PM <br /> To: counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us <br /> <br /> Cc: alchemy@alohabroadband.com O 3 <br /> Subject: council trash testimony email.doc C~1 <br /> Z - - <br /> Attachments: header.htm yr• <br /> 0 <br /> Tony Gordon <br /> 94-6920 Kamao'a Road, Ka'u, Hawai I-' <br /> G3. <br /> <br /> <br /> Written testimony to the Hawaii County Council Committee on Finance, 11 March 2008 <br /> <br /> re: Comm 1062: <br /> <br /> (Res. 551-08) <br /> <br /> The concept of waste management has evolved from dumping trash into a hole in the ground to a <br /> complex hierarchy that ranks solutions by desirability. This hierarchy favors waste prevention / <br /> reduction and recycling over energy recovery. <br /> <br /> Waste to energy plant is a fancy name for an incinerator. The theory behind the operation is attractive; <br /> turn a waste product that takes money to dispose of and convert it into a cash stream from electricity <br /> sales while disposing of the waste. There are a lot of issues that add complications. <br /> <br /> Common incinerators in this country are so-called mass burn units. The fuel is municipal solid waste <br /> (MSW), more commonly called trash, and it is collected, trucked to the incinerator, dumped on the floor <br /> for a quick sort, and loaded into the firebox, rocks and all. <br /> In Europe, where natural resources have long been scarcer and more expensive than in the US, there are <br /> incinerators but they burn a different fuel, because the waste is different. There is much less plastic. <br /> What ends up in the fire is different - the result of carefully picking over the waste at the plant and <br /> removing as much of the hazardous materials (haz-mat), recyclables, undesirable waste items, and yes, <br /> rocks. The result is a fuel that burns at a more uniformly, keeping the boiler at a more consistent <br /> temperature, and allowing the pollution control systems to work properly. When the pollution control <br /> systems don't work perfectly, as happens when firebox temperatures vary too much, pollutants such as <br /> Dioxin (a carcinogen) can be released into the surrounding areas. <br /> <br /> The waste to energy plant proposed for this island will need 85,000 tons of fuel (municipal solid waste <br /> MSW) per year, an amount that, by contract, must be supplied by the county. To meet this demand there <br /> are plans to divert waste from the Milolii, Waiohinu, Honokaa and Lapahoehoe transfer stations to the <br /> proposed plant. There are penalties for failing to supply the guaranteed amount, probably about $105 per <br /> ton. There are costs for over supply, reported as $63.19 per ton.The appetite of waste to energy plants <br /> for fuel is constant - they demand to be fed waste material by imposing financial penalties- an absolute <br /> Comm. No. 10 % 0 It <br /> Ref. To: ham Efic <br /> 3/10/2008 Ref. Dote --MAR <br />