*Integrated Resources & Solid Waste Management Plan Update (with Appendices) - Dec 2009

Home

4.0 RECYCLING, BIOCONVERSION, AND MARKETS long distances to a central facility. The most likely potential locations for such facilities would be in East Hawai'i (Hilo), one in West Hawai'i (Kona) and one in the Waimea area. 4.5.2.5 Other Considerations There are a number of other factors that should be considered when evaluating curbside recycling: • Collection is typically performed through a contracting mechanism with a private service provider, although many cities and counties collect recyclables using municipal workers. This decision would need to be made with State contracting laws in mind. • There a many different ways of organizing the collection of garbage, recyclables, and green waste/ organics. The program must be integrated with other collection programs. If curbside recyclable collection were implemented in Hawai'i County, it would be costly to collect both at curbside and at all 21 of the County's recycling and transfer stations. • Pilot programs and consumer research should be conducted prior to full -scale implementation to develop data that can be used to refine and tailor the program to the needs of the various communities within the County. • Education and promotion of the program would be critical to success. Diversion Potential. Curbside recycling has the potential to divert significant quantities of material from County landfills. The extent of diversion could vary significantly depending on the type of program that is instituted and other factors such as those presented in Exhibit 4 -3. Some of the more successful curbside recycling programs in the United States report collection rates of 500 to 1,000 pounds of recyclable materials per participating single - family household per year. For example, Seattle reported dry recyclables collection of 876 pounds per participating household per year in 20074. A 2007 analysis of 134 curbside recycling programs in Ontario found a collection rate of 339 pounds per participating household per years. In FY 08, 5,557 tons of dry recyclables were collected from County recycling and transfer stations, which is approximately 175 pounds per household per year. Using results from the County's 2008 waste composition study, assuming 37,000 households would be served and material capture rates of 80 percent for most recyclables (like paper, cardboard, and containers), a recycling program would result in additional recycling of 8,800 tons, which is about 460 pounds per participating household per year, or about 635 pounds per participating household per year including materials currently being collected from County recycling and transfer stations. 4 See http: / /www.seattle.gov /util /stelient /groups/ public /2spu /2usm /documents /webcontent /spuOl 003756.pdf 5 Wilson, Bruce. A Comparative Analysis of Ontario's Recycling Programs. 2007. Proceedings, Papers, and PowerPoint presentations of the ISWA World Congress. December 2009 4 -15