21-07-28 EMC minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner Olson recalls when the transfer stations were a hole in the ground and no gate. The fact that we have a gate and hours, and that we got that far is surprising. It initially got a lot of blowback. And there's the complexity of the waste stream. It used to be that what you throw in there would quietly decompose and it had relatively little impact, and that is not the world we live in today. Reducing the hours is going to be problematic at best. Director Mansour said if you go to collections anywhere in the country, even on Oahu, they pick it up every Thursday. Commissioner Olson said if we could get a collection going, that would be a great start. If, Director Mansour said, we can accept collection once a week, why can we not just adjust behavior to take our garbage to the transfer station once a week? It's a built-in mindset, Commissioner Olson said. The reality of where we are is that it is ingrained in people that the transfer station is available 24/7. Curbside pickup might work in the small -lot subdivisions. Where we are going to have a problem is in the large acreage subdivisions. Director Mansour agreed that is going to be the challenge. That's the mindset. Nobody's paying for it, so it becomes an entitlement. When you go to a convenience store, it's also open 24/7, but anything you purchase, you expect to pay for it. The idea here is need to do the public education and the outreach, and start changing the mindset, because it's going to come at a cost. It's the idea of the minimal disposal fee, Commissioner Olson said. You get it settled with people who are paying for it, and it is not arbitrary. The fact is that you can go to the transfer station and you can dump a truckload, or one bag. And on their side of the fence it doesn't' seem to have a consequence. We both know there's a huge consequence, he said. They don't see the cost. Although Director Mansour needed to leave the meeting, Chair Adams said we are not done with this conversation. This is a kickoff to think about the different ways and means, and also to recognize we are not the only place on the planet that is looking at how to manage solid waste. There are a lot of models out there. Maine is going to try something to get the manufacturers to pay. She just thinks about all those times that she tries to buy something online and finds there's no delivery to Alaska or Hawai'i. Well, how long is that list going to get to figure out how we are going to charge them to pay for waste disposal off this island? The logistic challenges are quite numerous, and there's no magic solution. It's a whole pile of things that the SWAC tried to collate that were useful. We made some progress, and we have to figure out how we can fund more staff to do some of the community education programs, and also to analyze what would work on this island. How much would we need to charge for each kind of good? Throwing away a computer versus throwing away a paper cup is not the same 1 cent cost. So 12