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

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something that needs it like schools are helping people. We don't need to stink up the island with a bigger landfill, so think of how you can help." Response: State law requires that the County manage waste materials in a manner that protects public health. The Solid Waste Division (SWD) supports the sentiment expressed in this comment, but until such a time that we have truly achieved zero waste, it must make provisions to manage the residual wastes that remain in a responsible manner. 3. Anuhea Kahikina, student, West Hawaii Explorations Academy "There are lots of people in Hawai'i, which means that there's a lot of waste that is generated. There is so much waste being produced that the people in charge think that the only way to solve this problem is to expand landfills. This landfill will cost millions of dollars to build. With all that money we can give it to scientists who could find a way to get rid of waste in a natural way. This will help in getting our landfill clean and ready to bring in more waste. This way we will not have so much waste on our beautiful island. We only need one landfill and that is the one we have now. Did you know that if we make this new landfill that the rubbish on this island will increase by who knows how much? This is where we do not want to be. Our goal at our school is to work toward zero waste and to get there, the answer is not to make a bigger landfill. That is just making it worse for our living and for the kids in our next lifetime." Response: See responses to comments 1. and 2. 4. Grace Hartman, student, West Hawai'i Explorations Academy "I'm against expanding the landfill. A landfill is a structure to hold trash, designed so the trash doesn't make contact with the ocean or any water resource. But that smart thinking is not helping because it is polluting Hawaii and many other state's environments. And guess what, about 75% of that waste can be recycled. And instead of making a 2.8 million dollar check for the fine O'ahu has to pay for landfill violations and expecting to get another landfill that will cost about the same amount, you could spend it on go -green machines, incinerators, or spend some extra time thinking of new ways to help keep pollution away from our planet. We at the school that I'm going to are getting 17 Fridays taken away because of budget cuts that the government had to make. Instead of three million tons of waste, we can make 250 million tons of profitable recycling. We should really reconsider our actions and the idea of expanding the landfill because if we do, we will just be creating a very tangled web, ... is that what we want? No, so what are we asking, we could make Hawai'i smell and look beautiful like the beautiful, lush, green island it really is. Doesn't that sound like the better and more pleasing solution ?" Response: See responses to comments 1. and 2. 5. Hailey Ellison, student, West Hawaii Explorations Academy "Did you know there are about 1,400 landfills in America? About 80% of that can be composted, reused, or recycled. Most people think wow, that's a lot, instead of actually doing something to help. Most people just think that one person won't make a difference, they're wrong. If everyone started recycling, reusing, and composting, it would reduce more than half of what goes into our landfill. Have you ever thought of what would happen in the future if we just keep piling our waste on the earth? The whole earth would be covered PUBLIC COMMENTS AND RESPONSES APPENDIX IDOC 2