2017-10-25 Environmental Management Commission Minutes

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Mr. Goodale turned the presentation over to Mr. Hayducsko to walk through some of the things that have been done as a result of the last planning process. Mr. Hayducsko said the upside is that he is working with awesome people, and the downside is that there is an awful lot to do. He went through some of the highlights of what has occurred since the plan came out. The single-use plastic bag has been banned. It has been a very successful program. For the tire education program, there were recommendations about education. The program reaches out to the business community and general public. The first part was educating the businesses—the tire dealerships. The dealerships have to add a recycling charge to a tire every time someone buys one, but most dealers were not aware of this. It is mandatory by state law. The added charge means there is no financial incentive for someone to take a tire back home. They had to hire a vendor to go out and educate all the tire dealers. They will be following up two more times with each tire retailer to educate them on this. They also needed to educate the general public about the charge, so they had radio ads and printed ads in the newspaper. The reuse centers were increased from three to seven, again for that lofty goal of reaching zero waste. Much more material is being diverted from the landfill, to be used over and over. They just opened up Hilo and Waiohinu this year. For the green waste program, drop-offs were increased from three to eight. It has been highly successful in terms of the volume being diverted from the landfill. It allows them to capture more green waste and turn it into mulch, for which there is a great demand. Another huge program is utilizing food waste and compost. They are working on rewriting the contract and searching for locations. They are looking at three possibilities and will be hiring a consultant to help in the process. The plan also recommended improvements to some of the transfer stations, and that has occurred. the Pāhoa site stands out and is working well. The Waimea Transfer Station and others have been improved. Regarding e-waste, there has been some collection. The state used to help pay for the program but pulled back, so the county taxpayers are paying for it. Every Saturday, on different parts of the island, there are collections. There is one permanent vendor, Mr. K, that takes e- waste every Saturday. Everybody gets served. The other program they continue to support is household hazardous waste collection. They provide for its collection in Hilo and Kealakehe twice per year, and make two other collections during the year. In closing, Mr. Hayducsko said they take recycling very seriously. 14