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

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I am certain that there are those that legitimately perceive that by charging fees for each bag of garbage, the market will encourage more recycling. That is a reasonable argument for reasonable people during reasonably good economic times. The people who dump appliances, furniture, and batteries near my houses in Waimea and Orchidland are likely less than reasonable. They do so out of convenience. It is my perception that those people and more will begin to dump all of their solid waste in the same areas. I will be forced to call the police. The police will show up and have to file a report (another cost). I certainly will be less likely to pick up the rubbish as a good Samaritan because now I will have to pay for that privilege. Indeed we should pay for our rubbish. But we should pay through the taxes on those goods which support the production of rubbish. Nowadays, that would be all consumer items except fresh produce. We should not pay for the rubbish at the back end, but at the front end. We should have a rating system for consumer goods that taxes those items which produce the most waste the highest. The price would be paid before the rubbish is thrown on either of my streets. Please do not charge a fee for rubbish. If we must pay, we should pay at the front end, either through higher taxes, or on specific products that are considered less than environmentally friendly as it relates to the solid waste they produce. Response: Please see the first paragraph of the response to comment 20 above. 32. Donald Rice, 10/13/09 I have grave concerns regarding your plans to implement a pay -as- you -throw (PAYT) system. Some of the reasons are as follows: Current restrictions on plastic containers and lids (that they must be #1, #2, or #5) are ridiculous in this day and age. Every other jurisdiction that I've been associated with does not have such a limited selection of recyclable plastic. Our family has to put in dumpsters numerous other types of plastics that could be recycled. This is perhaps our biggest source of bulk items that end up going in our trash instead of being recycled. The same is true with regard to wax coated containers. They are recyclable elsewhere but not here. Something needs to be done about Styrofoam. If people have to pay to dispose of it we will find it all over the island as it takes up a tremendous amount of bulk space that people are unlikely to want to pay for. 4. There has got to be an Ocean View transfer station. Implementing a PAYT system without such a station will result in staggering amounts of trash being dumped all over our community. In summary, the idea of a PAYT system is excellent, but I don't think it can be productively implemented at this time. At least in our part of the island, there are too many people who do not have adequate financial resources to pay for trash disposal. Even now, we have garbage all over the place from people who refuse to go to transfer stations. I believe that this will reach epidemic proportions under a PAYT system. PUBLIC COMMENTS AND RESPONSES APPENDIX IDOC 18