HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0482.307 2024-2026From: Alesha Makuakane
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Sent: Tuesday, December 2, 2025 10:12 AM
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To: Council Testimony
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Subject: Ahlyna Flores Support Bill 83
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Aloha County Council Members,
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I'm Ahlyna Flores a student in ka'u high school and I'm also part of malama
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aina compostable.
Our program started in 2024 and is growing as we go. Throughout our journey we
accomplished a lot, such as building our own waste diversion in our cafeteria, and having our
very own in -vessel composting machine that turns the food waste into a compost that we share
with our community. These are major actions we've done in our program and If bill 83 passes,
we can continue to create more solutions towards environmental sustainability and programs
like us will be able to flourish and to be able to expand our model to schools and communities
around our island. As we continue to use these compostable products,the cheaper they will
become in the future.
Through our work we have shown that using bpi compostable products can be used at scale and
the community will buy into the zero waste initiative at large events when given the opportunity
and support to do so. For example, at the renaissance fair we had 2500 people over a weekend
generating over 4751bs of total waste generated and only 191bs of that went to our landfill
which is an incredible achievement. 160 lbs of that waste was compostable paper and bpi
certified bio plastics that were composted and turned into soil. If all of that were plastic it
would've just ended up in our landfill but instead we showed that with planning on working
together, we don't need plastics to gather and serve food. We are determined to m e a ch nge
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and will continue to work towards Zero Waste if bill 83 passes and we have the law supporting
us, making our efforts even more impactf il. Together, we can change our future, the future of
the aina, keeping it healthy and beautiful for the next generations.
Mahalo,
Ahlyna Flores
Naalehu 96772
Me ke aloha,
Ulu Makuakane
Recycle Hawaii - EPA REO Grant Program Program Director
www. recyclehawaii. ors
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