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energy savings, there may be some efficiencies to leveraging funding or reducing costs through <br />that mechanism, and looking at innovative technologies. At the SWAC, the Department was <br />reluctant to look at innovative technologies. Let somebody else prove it, and we will adopt it. <br />But she was hopeful that we would still keep an open eye out on new ways and new <br />technologies, and partnering with companies that would try some new technologies that would <br />work here on this island. Unfortunately, a lot of this partnership work needs somebody at DEM <br />who can be the oversight person and work with these contractors and private organizations. <br />And we don’t have enough people in DEM to do that kind of work with the expertise needed to <br />oversee that stuff. <br /> <br />Regarding the Recycling Market Development Centers, that is about looking at ways that the <br />County could connect up different partners, knowing what waste we’ve got and who needs <br />what kinds of materials, andbeing more active in terms of developing market. <br />Chair Adams then opened the floor for comments, additions, and questions. <br />Vice Chair Gaffney complimented the Chair on her presentation. She said it’s implied here but <br />not stated directly that there are profit opportunities from waste materials. With wastewater, if <br />we clean it up to the right standards, people will buy it, and there are certainly compost and <br />mulch opportunities. There are companies already in existence on this island that use the mulch <br />from our landfills and turn it into something that their clients pay for. <br /> <br />Commissioner Olson said his involvement with the community on a broader basis starts and <br />ends with our solid waste and wastewater issues in Puna. Puna was filled with illegal dumping <br />sites and mountains of abandoned vehicles. We found ways to collect thousands of vehicles <br />and get them hauled way for free. It was a question of timing. The price of scrap metal was up, <br />and there were some people on O‘ahu in the scrap business. They came up and got it. It is a <br />commodity. It always comes back to the money. There are ways to monetize all of this, but in <br />his opinion that’s where we need to start, understanding it is strictly a problem of money, and <br />who is going to pay, and how much, and take that approach. The technology will change over <br />time and the system will certainly evolve. But we have to start with show me the money, see <br />where we can get value from the waste stream as opposed to just something to get out of <br />sight. And we have had our successes, we have had our failures down here. It is a whole lot <br />better than it was. So he has floated a couple ideas about point of purchase, disposal fees, <br />those kinds of things. We have to come up with the mechanism, because nobody is going to <br />take it seriously until we address who is going to pay for it. That’s the point on the spear. <br /> <br />Chair Adams said the idea behind repurposing our current waste, just as we said in our recent <br />letter regarding the Kealakehe Wastewater Treatment Plant, is that we need to start thinking <br />about wastewater as a resource. It isn’t waste, it’s resource management. We’ve got to set up <br />systems that can do resource management. Andthat might be this idea of finding markets. I <br />know somebody who knows somebody who can connect and use that. That’s a lot of what is <br />happening on the mainland for these exchanges between businesses. A lot of it is volume and <br />that is our trial here on this island. In order to have a sustainable business, you need to have a <br />7 <br /> <br /> <br />