2020-09-23 Meeting Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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light of the Hilo landfill closure, the movement of trash to Puʻuanahulu, the increasing cost of shipping, and the various solid waste issues during the pandemic. 5. NEW BUSINESS a. Discussion on the status of the composting facility in Shipman Business Park. Chair Pequeño asked Commissioner Cardwell to speak on this. Commissioner Cardwell said she had been in touch with Jessie Hay of the Department of Health and Marvin Min of Hawaiian Earth, which is the company that got the contract to do the facility. Jessie Hay had been working on the permit and had submitted a number of questions to Mr. Min which were never answered. Commissioner Cardwell emailed Mr. Min to find out what was going on with the permitting, and he essentially told her they withdrew the permit on August 20. She does not know if Director Kucharski was informed of this or if he was withholding the information from them. She would like to give him the benefit of the doubt, but is not sure. She tried following up with Mr. Min several times to see if the director had been informed about the withdrawal, but he has not responded to her emails. To her knowledge, since the contracting company has withdrawn the permit from the DOH, the project is not happening. It is disappointing, upsetting, and frustrating, especially since the director had informed them it was moving forward. The problem is not going away, and the county needs some kind of composting facility. Commissioner Cardwell said she will continue to follow up on this and try to get more answers. She’ll report back to them at the next meeting. She heard there is a successful compost project happening in South Kona, and she will try to get more information about it, as it is possible there is a solution to the problem that could be set in motion. Commissioner Adams said she would try to find out more from the county’s recycling staff. She had not heard anything about the Shipman facility hitting a wall. However, she is concerned there is not a fleshed out plan on how to make it work on this island, and collection and transport to a facility is key. The Solid Waste Advisory Committee had strongly recommended the promotion of composting, because it represents a huge chunk of what would otherwise go into the landfill. The commissioners further discussed potential ways composting could work on the island, such as having smaller facilities throughout the island, and how it is a priority because it would reduce or divert waste from the waste stream. Commissioner Burns said it may be worth exploring where the distribution of smaller composting centers could be, as the commission could actually have some influence on promoting this. There is a huge demand for compost. A cost benefit analysis to see what it would take to have smaller hubs provide composting would be good, as these would help people with their day-to-day activities. 3