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

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island. The island has large numbers of people who struggle to put food on the table, pay for gas, clothes for their kids, pay for medications, and pay for medical care. If they cannot afford to pay for trash, where will it go? It will end up in our lava fields and our open spaces. This will create an eyesore for tourists and us. Who will want to come to Vog /trash Island? In the past we were offered a way to dispose of our trash for free, but our politicians felt this was wrong. Now they want to charge $2.00 per bag. Please do not implement this mistake. Response: Please see the first paragraph of the response to comment 20 above. 29. Richard Fucik, 10/05/09 This is to testify against the proposed fee - per -bag to dispose at the transfer station. A fee will result in roadside, vacant lot and other random dumping. The health hazards will be enormous not to mention the degrading effect on property values and tourism. Who wants to visit somewhere where garbage is strewn everywhere. We already have enough problems with those just too lazy to drive to the stations. Witness the recent cleanup of the Puako area, where tons of trash was collected even though a transfer station is close by. Just think of what will happen if a fee is charged to use the transfer station. Disaster!!! There are many horror stories from other communities who have tried pay -as- you -go disposal schemes, every time they had to be quickly rescinded due to the avalanche of wayside dumping. Charging a fee for properly dumping at a transfer site is a negative incentive. It punishes those who pay the fee and rewards those who avoid the fee and dump elsewhere. The cost of operating the transfer station should be collected in mandatory fees, most commonly thru the water bill. If you have already paid for it then you will be more likely to dump in the station rather than along the road. Now comes the incentive part. To encourage people to separate recyclables and reduce the amount of trash going to landfills, incentives should be offered. The cost of the incentives would come from the mandatory user fee. Perhaps a fun scratch off card given out at the recycle center with random cash prizes, redeemable at the HI5 recycle centers; or an entry card for a periodic drawing for a trip to Vegas, etc. In summary, don't make using the transfer station a punishment thru the negative incentive of a per bag user fee. Incentivize recycling thru a positive incentive with a low cost, but fun reward program. Consider also that we could join Oahu and ship our waste to the mainland site. This would alleviate pressure on our landfills and would be relatively inexpensive since we would just piggyback on their program. Response: Please see the first paragraph of the response to comment 20 above. Incentivizing recycling is a good idea and will be considered where feasible. 30. Louise Winn, 10/05/09 I am writing to express my concern regarding the pay -as- you -throw system for disposing of household waste. While this has a good chance of success in urban areas such as Hilo, PUBLIC COMMENTS AND RESPONSES APPENDIX IDOC 16