Public Comments and Responses to the IRSWMP (Appendix I) - 2009

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Response: The County understands your position about not wanting to make haulers offer recycling services; however the Solid Waste Advisory Committee and SWD staff believe that this will both help expand recycling services and be a business opportunity for haulers. Currently, County solid waste operations are funded both by property taxes and tip fees. Pay- as -you- throw is just another revenue source: the money to pay for programs must come from somewhere. The County would like to find a way to support local piggeries assuming it can be done in a cost - effective manner that complies with applicable requirements. This will be one of many options that would be considered should it arise during implementation of the IRSWMP update. The County contract for collection and marketing of recyclables compensates its contractor on a sliding scale that varies with the price of materials. The pricing was established as the result of a competitive bidding process. Currently, market prices for materials do not pay for the entire cost of collection, processing, and shipping materials to markets. You're correct that the proposed waste reduction plans for new construction projects must recognize market realities. In addition to metal, there is also significant potential for building deconstruction and reuse of various materials recovered during construction and /or demolition. 18. Jesse Law, Sustainable Island Products "I started my business to help Hawaii remediate the landfill issue, it was actually the inspiration for my wholesale distribution company which distributes biodegradable products and supplies to restaurants, hotels, and schools. And I'm doing about 96 tons a year right now of product going into the market and because I have no end -use market for my product to go soil in Hawai i, it's all going to landfill currently. So as someone who actually started trying to assist in the problem that you're trying to address with the integrated solid waste management plan, I'm very interested in this as is all of my customers and businesses that have purchased these products. They purchase my products mainly because they believe in non -toxic and compostable products. "While the end -use equation here is not yet developed, my interest and participation in these meetings over the last year has been to try and figure this out. When the RFP for the commercial composting facility was cancelled, I was really kind of upset and so were a lot my customers. I'm trying to make sure that there's something there as an incentive or as a end -life equation for these compostable materials and supplies. "I think that Styrofoam and plastic cause cancer to both people and the environment, and they should be phased out eventually. I'm trying to show that there's incentive for that as a business but without this last part of the deal, I'm involved in a moot business, and so the interest there is how might compostable be considered inside of the composting facilities, and also with the potential combination with food scraps for processing either privately or at a publicly operated facility. That's my interest and 96 tons a year is a lot to be diverted, there's potential there and that's just me, I've got nine distributors in the market now, I'm carrying these products since my inception two years ago, that weren't doing it before, so I'm sure that cumulatively there's a lot more potential diversion available to Hawaii in that single category, so that's my interest. Response: The postponement of the green waste composting request for proposal was an early result of the current national and global economic crisis now affecting Hawaii County. The SWD hopes PUBLIC COMMENTS AND RESPONSES APPENDIX IDOC 10