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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0730.002 2000-2002 JNty'~F N'ali. `o• j \a~~~~i Harry Kim Barbara Bell Mayor ~ Director T9tE'OF ~HP~P DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 25 Aupuni Street, Room 208 • Hilo, Hawaii 96720-4252 (808) 961-8083 • Fax (808) 961-8086 September ~1, 2002 TO Chairman James Arakaki and Council Members _ Hawaii County Council FROM Barbara Bell Director RE Addendum to the Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan for the County of Hawaii COPIES/ITEMS DESCRIPTION Comments from the Public, Addendum to the Integrated Solid August 19, 2002 Kailua-Kona Public Meeting Waste Management Plan Comments from the Public, Addendum to the Integrated Solid August 20, 2002 Hilo Public Meeting Waste Management Plan Comments from the Public, Addendum to the Integrated Solid August 20, 2002 Waimea Public Meeting Waste Management Plan David Frankel comments, July 9, 2002 Addendum to the Integrated Solid And Harding ESE responses, July 12, 2002 Waste Management Plan TRANSMITTED FOR: [X ]Information and Files [ ] Approval [ ] Signature and Return [ ] Review and Comments [ ] Signature and Forwarding As Noted Below [ ] See Remarks Below [ ] Pursuant to Your Request [ ] Filing and Return REMARKS: /sh enclosures ~ Nog ~ i~i~ ~o~ Its COMMENTS I°ROM THE PUBLIC Public Meeting for Discussion of a Draft Addendum to Hawaii County Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan Kahakai Elementary School Cafeteria, Kailua-Kona 8/19102 7:00 to 9:00 PM 1. Barbara Bell of Hawaii County Department of Environmental Mana ement I just wanted to point out that, with regard to the line in one of the charts in the presentation that shows the estimated decline in the capacity of Puuanahulu Landfill if all the waste from the island is taken there for disposal, none of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee, none of the consultants, nobody wants that to happen. "That is not anybody's preferred approach. No one is looking at that as a solution." 2. Marni Herkes of Kona Kohala Chamber of Commerce "This addendum to the ISWMP seems to be a reaction to the imminent closure of South Hilo Landfill, rather than a solid waste management plan." "All areas of the island should have generation, recycling, sort, and transfer facilities." 3. Unidentified "The fact is, it sounds like we're trucking garbage over to Hilo (for sorting at a master station) and then we're trucking stuff back over here again." "You're saying that half of the island is going to have some type of solution to the solid waste problem and the other half of the island is going to be ignored. Let me guess which side will be ignored." 4. Barbara Bell of Hawaii Counter Department of Environmental Management The recycling, reduction, reuse components of this plan are island-wide for all the transfer stations, even though it focuses on the Hilo landfill closing. 5. Unidentified "I still do not understand what we're going to do as far as solid waste reduction on this side of the island. Our landfill is filling up, and nothing seems to be going on here. We've got traffic problems all over. We're gridlocked on this side of the island. We've got these big trucks traveling around. Has the traffic situation been taken into consideration with all this hauling back and forth." 6. George How for Harding ESE One of the reasons we're trying to get long-haul trailers is to minimize the amount of traffic. 7. Josephine Keliipio "Have you taken into consideration the County's policy on allowing "big-box" outlets to move in? They are the ones that give me rubbish. I have a big pile of boxes on the side of my yard ever since Costco moved in. Did you take into consideration the developers who are moving here and making these highly manicured developments that actually make rubbish because you've got to trim the trees and cut the grass and dump in the dump?" 8. Marni Herkes of Kona Kohala Chamber of Commerce "Has there been any planning considerations give to building a road into the back of the landfill from Mamalahoa Highway? 9. Dominic Yagong, Member of the County Council Representing the Hamakua District and Chairman of the Environmental Committee of the County Council This plan is going to come in front of the County Council in just a few weeks for a public hearing. This County Council is going to determine what the technology for waste reduction is going to be. What the council would like to hear from the public is which of the three technologies we should be going after. We will be scheduling public hearings with potential vendors who will provide information about their various methods. We'll make the decision before the end of the year. 10. Josephine Keliipio "All this is about is trying to figure out how we're going to incinerate, da-da, da-da, da-da, but we're not going to tap into what the real problem is -the source." 11. Charles Flaherty of Citizens for Equitable and Responsible Government I ask that incineration not be considered at all because of proven detriments to health. I have not studied anaerobic digestion and thermal gasification processes enough to opine about them. I would like the RFP to be written in such a way that a waste reduction/conversion facility for both sides of the island would be a possibility, if such is economically feasible. I would hope that the RFP to be written in such as way as to reduce any environmental hazards, which pose a long-term cost, that money can not be compared to. 12. Jeff Turner I'm running for County Council in South Kona, and I've been alife-long recycler of 34 years. Where did the name `convenience center" come from? It will be an inconvenience center if you can't even recycle until sometime in the future. What's the matter with reconfiguring them now or yesterday? "Transfer station" is what people know them by. You might call them "resource center" if you want to really educate people and start letting them think about these things as resources not waste. If it's open 24 hours a day and it takes everything and sorts it on the spot then it will be a convenience center. Banning yard waste from convenience centers would make them inconvenience centers. If you want people to separate green waste, then you need a green waste bin at every transfer station. Then we'll instantly have about 30% diversion, and we don't have to do anything but line up more trailers and we can get that one done. I strongly support afull-time recycling coordinator. This county was on that path in 1990 and 1991, and the election of 1992 spoiled that and destroyed everything that we had done to begin building a recycling program. There are still people that think that what's recycled just goes in a landfill, and sometimes that still may be true. The county is responsible for that misconception, and it's time to fix that. I agree that it will be more efficient to have private operators to perform recycling activities. But private operators never see a whole year of funding, which is basically sabotaging entrepreneurs who are really trying hard to do this and help the county do what is really their responsibility. It is ludicrous to end a diversion credit that saves money over the tipping fee. More important than the cost of various waste management processes, which waste reduction technology will be cleanest. Which will put dioxin in the air and which won't. It maybe worthy of a year's study to determine which is best. 13. Steve Powell of Real Earth United States Enterprises, Ltd. REUSE I would suggest that aerobic composting is missing from the waste reduction technologies that are being considered by the county. 14. Brenda Ford of PTP am averse to incineration because it produces too many noxious/toxic fumes. For the anaerobic digestion process the inorganic waste must be removed from the incoming waste stream through a dirty MRF or an organics-only collection system that doesn't seem to be feasible because there is a lot of plastic coming into this island that's hitting our landfills and should be used for something besides burial. It appears that thermal gasification is more expensive, however it takes care of producing electricity through processing plastics and other materials that might be unacceptable in composting." "I keep hearing through the "coconut wireless" there are vendors from out of country, that are operating in Australia and possible in Europe and been using these technologies for more than 30 years. Facilities can be built at no cost to the county, but they will own the electricity that they generate for the plant. It seems that since we are rather strapped for cash, that may be an effective way to go forward and get this done quickly." 15. Marjorie Erwav "I don't hear recycling programs being encouraged enough. It is absolutely imperative that we recycle and reuse. The amount of packaging from the stores is absurd, and we need to figure out ways of reducing that. We should reduce waste and recycle what we can't reduce. I have accepted and paid for recycling pickup for several years, and it was canceled because the funding from the county dried up. If small companies who do recycling can't depend on funding, why would they stay in business. Obviously, they don't stay in business, and that is unfair of the county to pull funding when they set an amount and when it is used up -that's too bad. That's not good for the county." Hauling of trash should only be at night, in the middle of the night. Tourism is looking to be our number one economic benefit here, and you can't have huge trucks traveling the same roads that tourists are going to be traveling. I prefer a waste reduction facility other than incineration. I prefer the cleanest facility that is possible. 16. Larry Ford "I feel that incineration is the dirtiest way to handle the problem, and therefore should not be considered because of the health of the people downwind." "I think we need to recycle, recycle, recycle. We really need to depend heavily on this. I came from California where there are strict recycling laws, and we followed them and took a lot of that right out of the waste stream." "We need to sort and manage the waste entirely on the island, and not just east Fiawai'i, but west Hawaii too. Our population is growing rapidly here; and if we don't resolve this problem on an island-wide basis, we'll be doing the same thing again because we didn't plan but only reacted." I am a certified purchasing manager, and know that an RFP can be written in such a way to get vendors to provide creative solutions to problems. I know that we've been working on this problem a long time, and we're way behind the gun - a lot further behind the gun than we should be. 17. Josephine Keliipio am disappointed and frustrated because all I hear is discussion of the processing of waste rather than the sources of the waste. The County Council should be more responsible and look at the larger picture, reconsidering policies that allow big-box retailers that actually generate a lot of our wastes. Large real estate developments such as Kahakai subdivision have covenants that ban backyard composting. Our county council is allowing such projects, and should screen the developers that are coming in and increasing the green waste stream. The County Council should have polices to restrict retailers, developers, and construction companies who create all these wastes, and we should change our way of life. Otherwise, this is fruitless. 18. Harold Murata am concerned with the long-term quality of the air here. I believe that thermal gasification and incineration will produce tons of air pollutants that will migrate with the prevailing winds from east to west. I hope the EIS will address the air quality conditions in the future. 19Barbara Bell The county is moving as quickly as it can to hire afull-time recycling coordinator. 20. Marni Herkes of Kona Kohala Chamber of Commerce About recycling from a west Hawaii perspective: I run an office that has been graded by Recycle Hawaii as one of the most recyclable offices around. The fact is we can not recycle, except for tin cans. The county program is in disarray. The population on this island doesn't need to be retrained for the most part. When NELCO gave out energy-efficient light bulbs, they had to order 5 or 6 times more than they thought they would need. The markets for recyclable materials seem to disappear. Our programs collapse when the markets disappear. I think the community in west hiawai'i will support those recycling programs even when the markets collapse so long as we understand that the best effort is being made, and we haven't really felt, especially in west I-iawai'i, that the best effort is being made. We have to haul our newspapers to Hilo to get them recycled, and that's not an efficient program. 21. Jeff Turner Because we've got this couple-of-thousand-mile moat around us, recycling is a little different economic activity than it is in a mainland metropolitan market. What we need is small local industry that uses those materials, and those small local businesses need a steady supply of those materials. The solution is for the county to be the buffer and facilitator, and get a pile of glass, and a pile of newsprint fiber, and a pile of plastic; and if we have raw material, they will come. The solution is to find something we can do locally so we are not at the mercy of world markets. Recyclable materials should be source-separated, and the county should create the system for it. We don't need any pilot studies in all of this. We just need to do it. We have the problem of South Hilo Landfill filling up because of prior inaction. Instead of thinking Puuanahulu Landfill will last for 20 years or 50 years, we ought to be making it last 100 years. The county should budget to do the same thing on the west side of the island as is being planned for Hilo. 22. Unidentified We took a whole load of recyclable materials to Atlas Recycling. They took cardboard, newspaper, not white paper. They took glass. No plastic. We can still do it over here. They used to take white paper, and now they're not. So you never know. 23. Josephine Kelii~o thought I heard someone at one hearing, that one way to pay for all this would be just to tax the general public --just initiate a waste tax and tax everybody. "We all are responsible." 24. Dominic Yagonq, Member of the Countv Council Representing the Hamakua District and Chairman of the Environmental Committee of the CountX Council We have to look at this holistically. When we look at the (waste reduction) technologies for east Hawaii, we need it on both sides of the island. We should look for vendors who will pay to build facilities, and we need them on both sides of the island. COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC Public Meeting for Discussion of a Draft Addendum to Hawaii County Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan County Council Meeting Room, Hilo 8120/02 9:00 to 11:00 AM 1. Jon Olson It would be helpful to include a copy of HRS 342 G in the ISWMP document. The plan should include a mass balance for the island we don't know what is coming on the island. I would like the recycling goal set at 100%. The only way we will be able to address the problem of per capita increase in waste is by having some kind of fee on consumption, moving it away from the property tax base. There is now no incentive to reduce the amount of waste an individual puts in the waste stream in fact, there is incentive to waste more. 2. Steve Powell of Real Earth United States Enterprises Ltd. (REUSE We have a composting process that converts ordinary garbage into compost, asoil-like material, in six days. I happen to be on-island this week to investigate the feasibility of building a compost plant here. I suggest that the county consider aerobic composting as a technology that would be viable for managing waste. Thus there would be four technologies to choose from rather than three. 3. Bob Jacobson "I appreciate the time and efforts that went into the studies, but I realize there is no easy solution." "I know about incineration to some degree. I found it interesting to see a picture of the Minneapolis facility because I know quite a bit about the waste that comes out into the air from that facility because they don't have a very good monitoring system there. There's not a very regular system of monitoring. Actually there has been some fraud involved because they take some loads from hospitals, which is some of the worst waste of all to deal with. It has high levels of dioxin, mercury, and other very questionable substances. No matter what your vendors and your designers might say, if you don't take that kind of stuff out of the waste stream, you're going to be drinking, eating, and breathing mercury and cadmium and you-name-it every other kind of heavy metals. The contractors will paint a very pretty picture, and when it comes right down the road, their monitoring devices that supposedly sit in functioning scrubbers are often times broken, turned off, not monitored and the scrubbers themselves are frequently not working very well. They are expensive, they're not cheap to run. The cost of not running them is far higher because then you're poisoning all your people. Being a nurse myself, I worry about the long-term effects of these types of affairs. Early on, you need to remove some of these things from the waste stream, whether it's right upfront -you don't allow certain substances into the state or you just monitor the tonnage so you know what's coming in. If you don't know what's coming in, you don't know what's going to be dumped up in Hawaiian Acres or dumped in you-name-it along the side of the road." "I am very concerned about gasification. We need a whole lot more data about functioning plants. We just can't take people at their word. There're some very nice people that we should trust their word after we can verify it." "Regarding incineration, there is a lot of wet waste here, and we're going to spend a whole lot of energy money just burning it." "I am really opposed to locking the landfills at night, because I know what is going to happen -they're going to dump three truck loads of garbage in front of the gate. County workers will then spend half a day cleaning up garbage in front of the gate." "The county shouldn't charge for disposal, because otherwise they'll just drive up to Hawaiian Acres and dump it right in my road, like they always do. And that's without the landfills being locked at night." "If we are really worried about what's going into those solid waste transfer centers, cameras are cheap. They're 120 bucks, and just put a motion detector in there. And it's not like you're trying to photograph everyone on the public street where you run into some constitutional problems. People are using a service, they're there, and when they dump garbage improperly, it costs us a stack of cash. I don't want to turn this into a police state, but when people are there and they're violating, that's a real problem. You need to take care of that. even now, when I call about cars being dumped along the side of the road, I can tell people where that car came from, but we're not keeping track of it at all. We're not trying to hunt down the people who are dumping these cars illegally. That information is going nowhere." "We all have to accept that if we are going to clean up this trash there are going to be more workers needed. They're not doing it properly now. Some people are going to have to work and have to do the job. It will cost more money because we're not dealing with it very well right now." "Commercial generators who haul in lots of things and generate vast amounts of trash need to be held accountable for the trash they make. Their customers might have to pay a little bit more, because Mr. Jacobson doesn't want to have to pay more for someone who is generating a bunch of trash that Mr. Jacobson's not using. If he generates trash, he's responsible for it. He just has to accept that they're going to have to pay more." "We should limit the importation of dangerous waste. Some of those things are really clear. Some places in the world don't even allow them to come into their country. Some of the things, maybe we have to take a very close look at, whether they be mercury batteries or some clearly dangerous substances. If you buy it, you've got to take it back. If you buy solvents, you've got to be accountable for those solvents. You can't just dump them any old place. If you're buying oil for your fryers, people have to be accountable for that oil. They can't just dump it out or pass it off to some of those haulers that we have had in the past who just dump it out in Ocean View. Some of the restaurateurs are very interested in creating a bio diesel program. We could use some of the energy that we are wasting. It would be nice to capture that. In fact, I have used it in my generator. Untreated cooking oil, once it's cleaned, runs in my diesel just fine." "Simple systems work quite well. If you keep it simple, people tend to comply." "I am in favor of using recycled materials for construction. The Mayor and County Council may have to consider changing some of the building codes to allow the use of recycled materials." 4. Rov Skogstrom of (C.A.T.C.H.) Citizens Against Trash Coming Hamakua "I have attended several meetings of community associations in Hamakua, the Pepeekeo Community Association, the Rural South Hilo Association. One of the topics of the meetings has been the waste-to-energy plant that Brewer Environmental Industries wants to build in Pepeekeo. Basically, they would be burning roughly 250 tons of garbage a day. The vast majority of the citizens of Hamakua are opposed to this plant." "There is a community petition that has been going around, and it has about 400 signatories to date. I'll read it to you: "We, the undersigned residents of east Hawaii, oppose the proposed construction of a waste-to-energy plant (trash incinerator) in Pepeekeo by Brewer Environmental Industries. We believe that, whatever alternative is chosen by the County Council to replace the existing landfill, it should be located where most of the trash is located, which is the Hilo/Puna area. That's where most of the people are, that's where most of the trash is. The unnecessary trucking of 250 tons of trash per day along the Hilo Bayfront and the Hamakua Highway would create a useless nuisance of noise, odor and exhaust pollution for the Hilo and Hamakua communities, and a waste of tax dollars. Residents have additional environmental and economic concerns regarding the technology." "If a combustion facility is built, it will result in roughly 10 to 20 round trips for trucks going up and down the Hamakua Coast every day. That trucking will cost the county roughly 20 million dollars over the next 20 years, and it seems unnecessary to truck the trash away from where it is produced. The plant would also produce about 50 tons of ash per day, and that ash is considered hazardous waste by the EPA and therefore it has to be landfilled separately from other wastes unless the county wishes to purchase an additional vitrification system that would turn that 50 tons of ash into something that is not considered hazardous waste." "Another issue is that awaste-to-energy plant would create jobs, which is a benefit. However, those jobs will be created regardless of where the plant is located, whether it is built near the trash or away from the trash. Also, those jobs will be created regardless of what type of facility the council chooses." 5. Wavne P. Hagar "I agree with Marni Herkes, as reported in today's paper, that the addendum seems not be a plan but a reaction. If it's a reaction to the closing of South Hilo Landfill, fine; but then let's rename the document. If this document is in fact an integrated solid waste management plan; then it's, at best, shortsighted. It only considers one side's situation. Everything we hear is how much it's going to cost. Nothing is discussed anywhere about possible revenue generation that comes out of our waste stream." "I talked with Ron Soroos, Galen Kuba, and Mayor Kim at the beginning of the year, and suggested that they take a look at the Monterey Regional Waste Management District. This (printed material in hand) is off the Internet. (Here is some information for you for the record.) There is in fact a history of Monterey's waste management system. I hope our history will be at least this aggressive. Then we may have a chance and have some kind of open mind. There's also a lot about reusing recycled material. Monterey is actually reselling recovered materials, creating income to offset it. I asked both these gentlemen (Mr. Soroos and Mr. Kuba?) about creating electricity from landfill gas. There's a federal mandate, and there's also federal funding available to help develop landfill gas electrification. Monterey is creating enough electricity, free electricity, from their landfills to power an area larger than Waikoloa by itself. Both gentlemen said it was not in the scope of this study, which again leads me to believe that this is a reaction to a closing not an integrated solid waste management plan. If it's a reaction to closing, say so. We are not tapping the energy. Both gentlemen said that dumps need to be closed in order to get the gases. By the time you close a dump, you've lost the usefulness of it. There's a piece in here (printed material in hand) (happens to be one person I know about, Jenbacher Corporation who also happen to do the energy conversion of the landfill gases for Monterey) that shows a graph of when the usable gases are, it goes up in the beginning and drops off. As soon as you start a landfill, you start tapping the gas - it does not have to be lined. You can start anytime by drilling a hole into it and start tapping the gases. It's never too late to start generating electricity. Here's a diagram of an ongoing plant (printed material in hand)." "The only thing we're hearing is how much it's going to cost. Nobody is addressing how much we can save and how much we can generate that will offset those costs." 6. Julie Jacobson "We need to ask the consultants for a lot more technical information and economic information. Rather than an overview that we can do ourselves, we need people with both the engineering and science/technology background to analyze it. We should not go for short-term cost savings but consider long-term environmental degrading. What we could possibly do with some of these businesses is spread a thin layer of a low-level waste because we aren't doing as effective source separation as we need to. In a coastal area, eventually this stuff, and the porous nature of our ground, ends up getting into our oceans more easily than it would in any other coastal area. We already have a tremendous problem that we need to address in terms of a sewer system. We need to expand and improve that. We have people working hard on that. Again it's an area to maybe tap into some federal grants. And with our new leadership, I think we can do it." "I suggest that, maybe, roofs be built at the transfer stations over the place where people put their recycling. The facilities should also comply with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements." "We should not lock the transfer stations. We should use camera systems to catch criminals who are abusing the facilities and people who are putting demolition waste or using it wrongly. Use camera systems. We can hook them up with solar lighting. But don't deprive everyone. And it's just so true that you're going to have piles of garbage outside the gates. That 24-hour feature (availability) is very important, especially for people whose work causes them to be away for long hours. That's one area where people in rural areas get some equitable services." "I would like to see the Ocean View transfer station get into place. It was legislated in 1999, and it's time for the administration to get that one moving." "On Page 62, it states that the Solid Waste Advisory Committee does not want pay-as- you-throw. I think that, just like locking the transfer stations, that's going to lead to massive dumping all over the island. Let's avoid going that route." 7. Larry Leaf of The Environmental Groug am going to leave some printed material for handouts as well. I am with the Environmental Group in Honolulu. We are representing another alternative that should be looked at, that is our Hydromex waste management system. Basically, we take the garbage from the waste stream and grind it and shred it and make building materials out of it. Our's is a recycling system. Hydromex, however, can not process wet waste along with the dry waste, so we are looking for a wet waste process to compliment ours. At previous presentations to the County Council of the Island of Hawaii, there were two key comments: (1) The Hydromex system is too good to be true, and (2) Where can we see a Hydromex plant in operation. At that time we had no facilities running. Now we have four operating facilities, two in the Philippines, one in Mexico, and one in Mississippi. These facilities, small ones for 50 tons per day could be up and running in 90 days. 8. Norman Olesen I am an engineer by profession. The secondary emissions caused by some of the things that have been discussed here are probably more important than the actual physical facility. The liabilities of scrubbers are about 50%. I would like to see a positive set of recommendations from a consultant. It appears that the consultants are offering a bunch of things that can be done. would like to see the consultant say "here is the system we recommend, period". And here is why. And here is why we don't recommend the following. He desn't understand the objective of throwing out two or three alternatives. Is it for the public to make a decision about which they want? I think that is total folly. Initially in the presentation, the statement was made that there would be no transfer of waste to west Hawaii. Somebody tell me how that is possible. If it's going to take 5 years for an EIS to get facilities going, how can you not transfer things to west Hawaii? You're going to have to, in the interim, transfer. There is no way around it. Regarding the closing the gates of the landfills and people dumping in front, I come from lower Puna. We don't have gates, we dump it inside. In Pahoa, for example, there were mattresses all over the place, we have used iceboxes, used ranges spread out like you wouldn't believe. At one of the transfer stations, you can't get to the place to dump your trash. It finally got so bad, the county came out and cleaned it up. Regarding costs and user fees: I can pretty much promise you that if you put in user fees in lower Puna, you're going to have trash on the roads like you never saw in your life. It will be all over the place, because people are not going to pay it. That's the bottom line. Please come up with a solid recommendation. Take care of the secondary emissions, so that when we have secondary emissions, they have been very thoroughly addressed. We have a good history in lower Puna with regard to geothermal, and what happens with emissions. I would hate to see that happen again, that we're in the experimental phase. 9. Miki Lee of The Accord Group, Meeting Facilitator Would you like to respond to that comment about no transfer to west Hawaii? Did you say that? I don't remember hearing that. 10. Ronald L. Soroos of Harding ESE I don't recall saying that. If I said it, I misspoke. The plan is to transfer waste to west Hawaii in the interim. And then, there will still be some residue that needs to be landfilled. 11. Miki Lee of The Accord Group, Meeting Facilitator I think it might be important for someone from Harding to talk about what you were asked to do as part of this process. I've heard a couple of people say they were a little disappointed that there isn't a single choice that's come to the top. I don't believe that's what the consultants were asked to do. I believe they were asked to help the SWAC (Solid Waste Advisory Committee) to look at a variety of options and come up with a short list of possible options. What were you asked to do for this committee? 12. George How of Harding ESE The main objective was to try to find a solution and an alternative to the South Hilo Landfill. But also look at an overall system for recycling and reduction. The idea was to not pick one technology now, because there are a lot of things involved. There are a lot of factors to consider like performance, cost, environmental, etc. Information and data from some technologies has been hard to get because they are proprietary processes, to the point that they won't give out a lot of information. There are very few thermal gasification facilities and anaerobic digestion facilities in operation that process municipal solid waste. We were asked to come up with a menu of options. 13. Miki Lee of The Accord Groin Meeting Facilitator At previous meetings, the menu was longer. The SWAC weighed the pros and cons of various alternatives, reducing the list even further. 14. Wavne P. Hagar Maybe it would be a good idea if, along with a definitions page, you put a page that outlines the scope of the investigation. 15. Julie Jacobson When we approved the funding for the study, as a county council person, I was looking for some real specific comparison and a lot more analysis than you gave us. The facts, figures, and environmental information, that's what I expected. We need more technological analysis and true cost analysis. 16. Wavne P. Hagar "I lot of people didn't understand what Harding's mandate was. I spoke to at least one member of the commission who said, "Don't give me the information that I just gave you, talk to the people at Harding, give them the information because one, I'm a very busy person and I'm not very good at this, and two, I am relying on what Harding recommends for me to make a decision. So at least one member of the commission was expecting them to come up with a best-case scenario." 17. Margaret Pahio There are a lot of places that have been doing incineration. But the others, thermal gasification and anaerobic digestion don't have track records. How did you come up with these to be the other two? With the other two operations, will we be more like guinea pigs? 18. George How of Harding ESE These are the systems everyone comes up with. These have been used for other waste streams. They have systems in place, but we just don't have a lot of technical information because they are patented processes. If you tell me the parameters, we can make a decision. For example how clean is clean? Does it mean that if it meets the EPA standards, it's sufficient? When it comes to emissions, you don't what to hear about it because someone is worried that there may be dioxin or some other risk factor? There's a lot of things that go into a decision. There's performance. Track record I think is a very important one. There's an advantage to being up front there, if the supplier is willing to assume all the risk and will guarantee he will take care of the waste. Someone at a higher level will have to make the decision. EPA has reduced allowable emissions of dioxin from combustion facilities significantly in recent years. But we've heard a lot of comments that people don't trust incineration under any circumstances. Regarding greenhouse gases, if you go to incineration or thermal gasification, you have a net reduction in greenhouse gas emission because you are substituting municipal solid waste for oil. 19 Julie Jacobson Maybe the information from the appendices could be summarized in a table, and the alternative technologies could be ranked in terms of air pollution, coastal water pollution, etc. This could be a method for us to analyze them. 20. John Ross We don't have two years on the Hilo Landfill. We've got less than a year and a half. The problem is you've given us only one viable alternative to date, and that's incineration. Because you don't have information on the other alternatives. My recommendation is to check with military sources for waste management information. 21. Barbara Bell of Hawaii County Department of Environmental Management I just want to comment on why anaerobic digestion is on the short list. Because it is operating in Europe on afully-commercialized scale it has a lot of promise, and the commissioners wanted to research it more thoroughly. That's why it on the list. We thought more research would be valuable. Gasification is on the list because it does have a lot of promise, and in the research we discovered that its track record is pretty thin. It's still on the list because we haven't taken anything off. 22. Mack Asato. Member of the Environmental Management Commission Has anyone considered how these new technologies will affect the current employees? 23. George How of Harding ESE Any new system will require training of workers. 24. Barbara Bell of Hawaii Count~Department of Environmental Management The next steps in the planning process are to add the comments from the public to the draft and bring it to the County Council Parks and Environmental Management Committee so council can debate it for a couple of meetings. At some point in October or November it will come back and become a final. Then hopefully the council will adopt it. There will be further opportunities for public comment at the council hearings, and it will be on cable television. . COMMENTS FROM TOME PUBLIC Public Meeting for Discussion of a Draft Addendum to Hawaii County Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan State Office Conference Room, Waimea 8/20/02 7:00 to 9:00 PM 1. Riley Smith, Co-chairman of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee Long wheel-based trucks (such as used on Oahu for long-hauling waste) have difficult time making the turn at the intersection of Lindsay Road and Mamalahoa Highway. In general, hauling equipment should be sized for the planned route of travel. 2. Christine Ross of Pacific Waste. Inc, Heavily loaded trailers are prone to overturning at the turn into Queen Kaahumanu Highway from the Kawaihae Road. 3. Leningrad Elinaroff, Member of the County Council Representing the North and South Kohala District Adjustments can be made to the east Hawaii waste stream by bringing the waste from more convenience centers (transfer stations) to Hilo to provide feed stock for a waste reduction facility. 4. Christine Ross of Pacific Waste Inc, Waste is sorted for recovery of recyclable materials at the H-Power facility on Oahu. 5. Reynolds Kamakawiwoole, Candidate for the Coun_y Council from the Hamakua District recently visited a small community in Massachusetts, which has a very successful recycling system. We haven't been doing what others have been doing. We should consider some of the ways other people are recycling their wastes. We've really not touched recycling as much as we should. The people in the Massachusetts are really involved in recycling. They really believe in it. It's done very neatly and cleanly. 6. Jim Thropp (Regarding alternative waste reduction technologies) whatever is done, people will not like it particularly in their backyard. It will be a struggle for Brewer to get their combustion facility going. If we could interview the people who are protesting to find out their basic concerns and what it is that they want to resolve the problems. 7. Lorraine Inouye, State Senator for North Hilo, Hanakua, and South Kohala The planned use of the HCPC (Hilo Coast Processing Company) facility was presented to the community, and they just totally told them that they don't want it in their backyard. 8. Barbara Bell of Hawaii County Department of Environmental Management There is a "whole activist group who's sole mission is no incineration." There's a lot of them, and they are very committed to their issues. I would fully expect th. Pepeekeo would just be different people if An incineration project was chosen for somewhere else. 9. Michael Kaha There is a very small plasma arc facility for medical waste on Oahu that turns 3 tons (of mostly medical wastes) into 13 gallons. Just to give you folks an idea of what you can do. Just so everyone has it in their minds, turning waste into energy is recycling. 10. Bets Lawrence The South Kohala Traffic Safety Committee is really concerned about increased large- truck traffic from Hamakua through Waimea town. As Riley pointed out, that turn by the Shell station is really bad. We've got five, six schools between there and down the hill (to Kawaihae). If you use the Waikoloa Road, you've got tremendous hills. There are tremendous hills no matter where you are. I know people are going to be extremely upset however many additional trucks travel through Waimea. If the community can be assured that the county is going to aggressively pursue other means of waste management so that when South Hilo Landfill closes in 2004 truck traffic will increase for a finite amount of time and then there will be reduction in the amounts of transported wastes, the community will take it better. 11. Cindy Evans, Candidate for State House of Representatives from South Kohala Because the roads up through Waikoloa to Waimea are narrow with small shoulders and drivers get impatient and pass when they should not, I would discourage the use of long-haul trailers. I oppose increases in tipping fees, especially for construction and demolition debris because there is a lot construction in Waikoloa and higher tipping fees will lead to illegal dumping on utility roads. On behalf of Waikoloans, please get us a transfer station. 12. Reynolds Kamakawiwoole, Candidate for the Count~ouncil from the Hamakua District Mr. Kamakawiwoole suggested that there are sites of former sugar mills on the Hamakua Coast that may be suitable for waste management facilities. 13. Riley Smith, Co-chairman of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee It was a condition of zoning that the developers of Waikoloa put in a transfer station there. The County Council should probably enforce that commitment of the developer to put it in next time they come in for zoning. 14. Steve Powell of Real Earth United States Enterprises, Ltd. (REUSE) Aerobic composting has been omitted from the three waste reduction technologies that are being considered. Mr. Powell's company is involved in aerobic composting of municipal solid waste and would like that method considered as we!!. The advantage of the aerobic composting method is it's done quickly, thoroughly, and efficiently and compost is produced, which has an enormous number of beneficial uses. 15. Jim Thropp Make waste receiving facilities user-friendly, particularly for old cars because I see them going up the hill by my house and I know they're not going to be used for dog kennels. 16. Unidentified Expressed concern about an aggressive recycling program and the marketability of recyclable materials. Will the county help develop a market for recyclable materials? 17. Larry Capellas, Solid Waste Division Chief, County of Hawaii Always been a very strong believer that you have to start with marketing before you start with recycling, and if you don't do that you are guaranteeing yourself a disaster in the end. We've seen it in the Solid Waste Division. If we don't have the markets, we can't get rid of the materials. 18. Riley Smith, Co-chairman of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee 1 wanted to respond to Steve Powell. The county hired consultants to prepare the addendum to the Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan and what's included in here is the result of a lot of meetings and a lot of input from a lot of people. So I think the process you should follow if you want to allow the flexibility of aerobic composting, is to provide the consultants with adequate information so they will be convinced that that's a viable alternative and they will recommend to put it in the final draft of this. They mentioned to give the comments by the end of the month. 19. Unidentified was wondering why it hadn't been given consideration up to this point. Is it because they've never heard of the information? Or they hadn't been presented with this as an option. If you had been doing the research; how is it that you, as consultants, didn't know this was a viable option that you could bring to the table, to the group you were consulting? 20. Miki Lee of The Accord Group, Meeting Facilitator Was this technology considered? 21. Ronald L. Soroos of Harding_ESE Yes. It's covered in the appendix. 22. Unidentified It was considered and decided against. 23. Ronald L. Soroos of Harding ESE Yes. 24. Unidentified I see. 25. Miki Lee of The Accord Group, Meeting Facilitator If you look at any one of these pages in the back, they're laid out rather nicely. They talk about cost. They talk about the risk. They talk about how you might do it. So all that information is laid out for all the options, and then it was sort of a weighing situation for the commission (Solid Waste Advisory Committee) to whittle down the list. 26. Barbara Bell of Hawaii County Department of Environmental Management I think that Riley's point is very well taken. We didn't have any champion for aerobic composting. 27. Maata Tukuafu of North Hawaii Todav Speaking as a resident, I am very willing to recycle everything I have. I lived on the mainland and did it there. It was easy once everyone got to be responsible for it. The problem is, you get everyone doing it, where's it going to go? Who's going to pick it up? What are we going to do about it? How are we going to switch the mindset of people? 28. Miki Lee of The Accord Group, Meeting Facilitator A large part of the recommendation on the aggressive recycling program, was that there needs to be good lead time to get people to understand and to participate. It can't happen overnight. It's a change in living behavior. 29. Riley Smith. Co-chairman of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee One thing that came out of the Solid Waste Advisory Committee meetings financial incentives are needed to make it viable to recycle. This is done by raising tipping fees so alternatives become more economically viable for the companies that haul to the landfill. The stumbling block to increasing the tipping fees has always been the County Council. When the Solid Waste Division proposes higher tipping fees, we all need to support the council when these kinds of issues come forward so they are inclined, even in election years, to raise the tipping fees. 30. Christine Ross of Pacific Waste. Inc. 1 wasn't going to say anything, but I have to defend my customers. My customers are all commercial people, and they are the ones paying the landfill tipping fees. How come only them? It's one thing to make all the businesses pay for these things, but it should not only be them. I know that my customers have no problem with the landfill increasing the fees. I've already talked to at least my major customers and they have no problems with that as long as they're not the only ones footing the bill for everything. We're already known as an anti-business state. This is not good. So we need to make it everybody (who shares the cost). You know, good for one - good for all. I've already talked to my customers that it is going to go up, and it's going to go up for the next five years. What are we paying for? You're paying for getting rid of your trash because you've been underpaying all these years. That's fine until you get to the point, now what are we paying for? Now you're paying for the community's recycling. But we do recycling, but how come we're paying for the whole island? 31. Barbara Bell of Hawaii County Department of Environmental Management The county has a policy that, mostly because of fear of illegal dumping, residential trash management is subsidized through the general fund and commercial is supposed to pay for itself. At $35 per ton, commercial is not paying for itself. It's at least $60. 32. Leningrad Elinaroff. Member of the County Council Representing the North and South Kohala District Have the consultants run across any community or any state or any municipality that restricted the importation of containers to recyclable ones only? I know some people will never drink beer unless it`s from a bottle. Is it reasonable to expect that or ask for that? 33. Miki Lee of The Accord GroupL Meeting Facilitator We talked about that this morning, and the only analogy we could come up with is Berkeley, where they are restricting the import of coffee to only environmentally friendly and socially responsible brands. It sort of goes into the idea of Hawaii being really difficult for businesses and telling what they can and can't bring in. 34. Lorraine Inouye. State Senator for North Hilo, Hanakua, and South Kohala The state is working on the administrative rules for beverage container redemption. This all has to work hand in hand. The recycling efforts are going to be placed on the county with the state's oversight. The recyclers will need to take in glass, plastic, and metal containers. The ramifications of the bottle bill can be applied to all other aspects of recycling. Hopefully, people will learn to participate in recycling through the bottle bill. The legislature is looking at building up the fund so that they can give it to the counties to administer the recycling of those three items. The state marketing of recycling will be part of the plan. It should really assist the county efforts. 35. Anne E. Field-Gomes David and I have been recycling ever since we got married in 1989. We compost green waste and have separated aluminum, glass, and plastic. However, now there is no place to put it anymore; so even though it goes against the grain to put it in with everything else, that's what they have to do. "We believe in recycling, and we would do anything in our power to help the community, work through the schools, work through any group to get the community educated about how to recycle and make it user-friendly. I am personally totally opposed to trucking garbage through Waimea, any time, ever". Big trucks will be hard on the pavement that was recently installed at our intersection. Why not take it over the Saddle Road? Notes read by Ms. Field-Gomes on behalf of her husband: "Recycle everything possible. Place a recycle tax on all non-consumables to make it worth the while and cost-effective. COMPOST green waste. Burn the remainder to create power. Or give it as an offering to Pele and send it to Kona as bombs." 36. Barbara Bell of Hawaii County Department of Environmental Management Regarding the planning process from here. Dominic Yagong, the Chairman of the Parks and Environmental Management Committee of the County Council, requested the draft come to his committee as soon as possible, in draft form with everybody's comments. So we are thinking around September 10, and he thinks it will be on the agenda for 2 or 3 meetings. And then it would go back to the consultants for final draft so the council's comments can be incorporated with the citizens' comments, and hopefully that will make a strong final draft. Then it will go back to council for approval by resolution. It's hard to predict when that will be. Definitely it is a before- the-end-of-the-year timeframe. Roriald Soroos FW ISWMP ~,.n.~£...,. ~ :.,....~.~~:.t-:,,.w.>~~:_ Page 1 Fram: Kristen Griffiths <kgriffiths@co.hawaii.hi.us> To: "RON SOROOS (E-mail)" <rlsoroos@mactec.com> Date: 7/9102 4:13PM Subject: FW:ISWMP Ron, Here are David Frankel's comments on the Addendum to the Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan. Kristen -----Original Message----- From: Riley Smith [SMTP:rsmith@parkerranch.com] Sent: Wednesday, July 03, 2002 6:48 AM To: frankel@lava.net; B. Bell; galen_kuba@co.hawaii.hi.us; Larry Capellas Cc: Kristen Griffiths Subject: RE: ISWMP KIMO - My comments: a. Kristen should provide a copy of this email to the consultants, as your formal comments to their ISWMP. b. Kristen should distribute a copy to all Commissioners and this matter should be discussed at the next EMC meeting. There should probably be discussion, with some kind of motion made/vote taken, that either a majority of all the Commissioners agree that these comments reflect the entire Commission's concerns, or Kimo just submits as his own comments, as a member of the public. c. We should specifically ask for the consultants comments to 4.a, b and c. BARBARA -What are your thoughts? riley -----Original Message----- From: David Kimo Frankel [mailto:frankel@lava.net] Sent: Monday, July 01, 2002 9:51 PM To: B. Bell; Riley Smith; galen_kuba@co.hawaii.hi.us; Larry Capellas Subject: ISWMP I've forgotten exactly how you would like to handle comments on the Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan. Here are some of my thoughts, which should be made available to all the Commissioners and members of the public. By the way, did we ever get a copy of the minutes of the last SWAC meeting where we voted on various elements of the strategy? 1. The plan would be improved it it identified who is doing what. What actions are actions that the council would take? What actions are things that the Solid Waste Division needs to do? 2. I would like to see the plan contain more detail about how we are going to handle construction and demolition waste. What are the costs involved in the plan? Can we use part of Puuanahulu? What are the specific steps that other counties (like Kauai and Honolulu) have taken? I feel that this needs to be a higher priority. 3. A similar analysis would be great for greenwaste. Should the county just buy a chipper or continue the existing approach? 4. I would like to see the incineration option tossed out. Here are my reasons: a. The state law mandates that other methods of processing solid waste are _ - Ronald Soroos FW ISINMP _ _ ~ _ . , ...::~.~~_..Y,W.~...,~~F_r~.:_ Page 2 higher priority. Hawaii Revised Statutes ? 342G-2(b) requires that "each county shall consider the following solid waste management practices and processing methods in their order of priority: (1) Source reduction; (2) Recycling and bioconversion, including composting; and (3) Landfilling and incineration." b. The capital costs of incineration are quite high. c. Incineration is not clean. Incinerators release carcinogenic and toxic chemicals from their smoke stacks, including heavy metals (such as arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury, chromium and beryllium); acid gases, including hydrogen fluoride;[1,pg.11]partlally-burned organic material such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), herbicide residues, and wood preservatives; other organic chemicals, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs); and dioxins and furans.[3] One recent analysis identified 192 volatile organic compounds being emitted by a solid waste incinerator_[4] Dioxins were named as known human carcinogens by the World Health Organization in 1997.(5] Municipal incineration is the number one source of dioxin in this country. People who live within 7.5 kilometers (4.6 miles) of a municipal solid waste incinerator have an increased likelihood of getting several different cancers, according to a 1996 study of 14 million people living near 72 incinerators in Britain.[6] The British study was conducted in hero stages. In stage one, 20 incinerators were selected randomly for study. Some 3.3 million people lived within 7.5 km of these incinerators and their cancer history was examined. Statistically significant increases were found for all cancers combined; stomach cancer; cancers of the colon and rectum; liver cancer; cancer of the larynx; lung cancer; bladder cancer; and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Among people living within 3 kilometers (2 miles) of an incinerator, cancers of the lymph system and leukemias were significantly elevated, but cancers of the larynx were not. The second stage of the study examined the cancer history of 11.4 million people living within 7.5 km of any of 52 incinerators. Among these people, there were statistically significant increases in all cancers; stomach cancer; cancer of the colon and rectum; liver cancer; lung cancer; and bladder cancer. This is the first study to examine the cancer hazards of municipal solid waste incinerators among the general population. The researchers point out that their study cannot demonstrate cause-and-effect because there was no measurement of exposure of the populations living near the incinerators. The authors did take into account confounding factors, such as the effects of poverty ,but the relationship between incinerators and cancer remained strong, providing real cause for concern among people who live within 5 miles of a solid waste burner. According to Paul Connett, chemistry professor at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y., three French solid waste incinerators were closed in January of this year because milk from cows on nearby dairy farms was found contaminated with excessive levels of dioxins. Dioxins are a toxic family of unwanted byproducts of incineration.[7] According to the Guardian (London} September 16, 1997, dioxin was found late last summer in French cheeses and butter at levels exceeding safety standards set by the Council of Europe. And March 11, 1998, a private organization in France, the National Center Ronald Soroos FW~ ISWMP' " ' Page 3 -~-r..--~,T.a.-..~-... _ _ ~ _ ---...._.~....~....r-r-W~~.~-! for Independent Information on Waste (E-mail: toxoid@club-internet.fr), revealed that a municipal incinerator near Maubeuge in northern France, has contaminated cows' milk at levels of 22 parts per trillion (ppt) in milk fat. Staff members at the National Center say they believe this is the highest dioxin level ever measured in milk in France and they are calling for a moratorium on the construction of new incinerators. [7J The New York Times reported April 27, 1997 (pg. 10) that dioxins from trash incinerators have become an important public issue in Japan, which has 1850 operating incinerators. The TIMES says that, in neighborhoods downwind from incinerators, independent scientists have reported infant deaths 40% to 70% higher than average. These claims have not been verified. Even the U.S. Navy is complaining publicly that the U.S. base at Atsugi is being dangerously contaminated by a nearby garbage incinerator. More than 6600 Americans live within a kilometer (0.6 miles) of the incinerator. Rear Admiral Michael Haskins, the Navy's top commander in Japan, wrote Japanese officials saying, "People who reside or work at... Atsugi are breathing the poorest and the worst dioxin- polluted air in Japan" and "suffer damage to their health every day." Admiral Haskins told the International Herald Tribune "The incinerator is my number one priority in Japan."[8J Most of this information from Peter Montague of Rachel's Environment & Health News, a publication of the Environmental Research Foundation, P.O. Box 5036, Annapolis, MD 21403. Fax (410) 263-8944; E-mail: erf@rachel.org. [1J T. Randall Curlee and others, WASTE-TO-ENERGY IN THE UNITED STATES (Westport, Connecticut: Quorum Books, 1994). ISBN 0-89930-844-9. [2] John T. McQuiston, "Embattled L.I. Incinerator to Go Way of Shoreham," NEW YORK TIMES March 13, 1996, pg. B6. [3) Julia G. Brody and Terry Greene, INCINERATION: DECISIONS FOR THE 1990S (Boston, Mass.: Tellus Institute and JSI Center for Environmental Health Studies, 1994). Available from JSI Center for Environmental health Studies, 210 Lincoln St., Boston, MA 02111; telephone (617) 482- 9485. [4J K. Jay and L. Steiglitz, "Identification and Quantification of Volatile Organic Components in Emissions of Waste Incineration Plants," CHEMOSPHERE Vol. 30, No. 7 (1995), pgs. 1249-1260, identified the following volatile organic chemicals emitted from a solid waste incinerator stack: pentane; trichlorofluoromethane; acetonitrile; acetone; iodomethane; dichloromethane; 2-methyl-2-propanol; 2- methylpentane; chloroform; ethyl acetate; 2,2-dimethyl-3-pentanol; cyclohexane; benzene; 2-methylhexane; 3-methylhexane; 1,3- dimethylcyclopentane; 1,2-dimethylcyclopentane; trichloroethene; heptane; methylcyclohexane; ethylcyclopentane; 2-hexanone; toluene; 1,2- dimethylcyclohexane; 2-methylpropyl acetate; 3-methyleneheptane; paraldehyde; octane; tetrachloroethylene; butanoic acid ethyl ester; butyl acetate; ethylcyclohexane; 2-methyloctane; dimethyldioxane; 2- furanecarboxaldehyde; chlorobenzene; methyl hexanol; trimethylcyclohexane; ethyl benzene; formic acid; xylene; acetic acid; aliphatic carbonyl; ethylmethylcyclohexane; 2-heptanone; 2-butoxyethanol; nonane; isopropyl benzene; propylcyclohexane; dimethyloctane; pentanecarboxylic acid; propyl benzene; benzaldehyde; 5- methyl-2-furane Ronald Soroos FV1/ ISV1%MP , Page 4 , carboxaldehyde; 1-ethyl-2-methylbenzene; 1,3,5 trimethylbenzene; trimethylbenzene; benzonitrile; methylpropylcyclohexane; 2-chlorophenol; 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene; phenol; 1,3-dichlorobenzene; 1,4-dichlorobenzene; decane; hexanecarboxylic acid; 1-ethyl-4-methylbenzene; 2-methylisopropylbenzene; benzyl alcohol; trimethylbenzene; 1-methyl-3-propylbenzene; 2-ethyl-l,4-dimethylbenzene; 2 methylbenzaldehyde; 1-methyl-2-propylbenzene; methyl decane; 4-methylbenzaldehyde; 1-ethyl-3,5-dimethylbenzene; 1-methyl-(1-pro-penyl)benzene; bromochlorobenzene; 4-methylphenol; benzoic acid methyl ester; 2-chloro-6-methylphenol; ethyldimethylbenzene; undecane; heptanecarboxylic acid; 1-(chloromethyl)-4-methylbenzene; 1,3-diethylbenzene; 1,2,3-trichlorobenzene;4-methylbenzyl alcohol; ethylhex anoic acid; ethyl benzaldehyde;2,4-dichlorophenol; 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene; naphthalene; cyclopentasiloxanedecamethyl; methyl acetophenone; ethanol-1-(2-butoxyethoxy); 4-chlorophenol; benzothiazole; benzoic acid; octanoic acid; 2-bromo-4-chlorophenol; 1,2,5-trichlorobenzene; dodecane; bromochlorophenol; 2,4-dichloro-6-methylphenol; dichloromethylphenol; hydroxybenzonitrile; tetrachlorobenzene; methylbenzoic acid; trichlorophenol; 2-(hydroxymethyl) benzoic acid; 2-ethylnaphthalene-1,2,3,4-tetrahydro; 2,4,6-trichlorophenol; 4-ethylacetophenone; 2,3,5-trichlorophenol; 4-chlorobenzoic acid; 2,3,4-trichlorophenol; 1,2,3,5-tetrachlorobenzene; 1,1'biphenyl (2-ethenyl-naphthalene); 3,4,5-trichlorophenol; chlorobenzoic acid; 2-hydroxy-3,5- dichlorobenzaldehyde; 2-methylbiphenyl; 2-nitrostyrene(2- nitroethenylbenzene); decanecarboxylic acid; hydroxymethoxybenzaldehyde; hydroxychloroacetophenone; ethylbenzoic acid; 2,6-dichloro-4-nitrophenol; sulphonic acid m.w. 192; 4-bromo-2,5-dichlorophenol; 2-ethylbiphenyl; bromodichlorophenol; 1(3H}-isobenzofuranone-5-methyl; dimethylphthalate; 2,6-di-tertiary-butyl-p- benzoquinone; 3,4,6-trichloro-1-methyl-phenol; 2-tertiary-butyl-4- methoxyphenol; 2,2'-dimethylbiphenyl; 2,3'-dimethylbiphenyl; pentachlorobenzene; bibenzyl; 2,4'-dimethylbiphenyl; 1-methyl-2- phenylmethylbenzene; benzoic acid phenyl ester; 2,3,4,6- tetrachlorophenol; tetrachlorobenzofurane; fluorene; phthalic ester; dodecanecarboxyfic acid; 3,3'-dimethylbiphenyl; 3,4'-dimethylbiphenyl; hexadecane; benzophenone; tridecanoic acid; hexachlorobenzene; heptadecane; fluorenone; dibenzothiophene; pentachlorophenol; sulphonic acid m.w. 224; phenanthrene; tetradecanecarboxylic acid; octadecane; phthelic ester; tetradecanoic acid isopropyl ester; caffeine; 12-methyltetradecacarboxylic acid; pentadecacarboxylic acid; methylphenanthrene; nonedecane; 9-hexadecene carboxylic acid; anthraquinone; dibutylphthalate; hexadecanoic acid; eicosane; methylhexadecanoic acid; fluoroanthene; pentachlorobiphenyl; heptadecanecarboxylic acid; octadecadienal; pentachlorobiphenyl; aliphatic amide; octadecanecarboxylic acid; hexadecane amide; docosane; hexachlorobiphenyl; benzylbutylphthalate; aliphatic amide; diisooctylphthalate; hexadecanoic acid hexadecyl ester; cholesterol. [5] International Agency for Research on Cancer. IARC MONOGRAPHS ON THE EVALUATION OF CARCINOGENIC RISK TO HUMANS: VOLUME 69 POLYCHLORINATED DIBENZO-PARA-DIOXINS AND POLYCHLORINATED DIBENZOFURANS (Lyon, France: International Agency for Research on Cancer, February, 1997). Ronald Soroos FW: ISWMP ..~n --~-.~s ,..::~.~~::,,A, Page 5 [6j P. Elliott and others, "Cancer incidence near municipal solid waste incinerators in Great Britain," BRITISH JOURNAL OF CANCER Vol. 73 (1996), pgs. 702-710. [7j "France: Dioxin contamination from trash incinerators," WASTE NOT #423 (March 1998). WASTE NOT is available monthly from Ellen and Paul Connett, editors, 82 Judson Street, Canton, NY 13617; tel. (315) 379- 9200; E-mail: wastenot@northnet,org. Highly recommended. [8j Ellen Connett, "Japan: Massive unrest over dioxin contamination from trash incinerators," WASTE NOT #424 (March 1998); see note 7 above. And: Ellen Connett, "Japan-Part 2 of 2," WASTE NOT #425 (March 1998); see note 7 above. David Kimo Frankel P.O. Box 1185 Volcano, HI 96785 (808) 985-8822 i-larding ESE, Inc. 98-1247 Kaahumanu Street ~~~~7 n~ Suite 305 1 Aiea,Hl 96701 A MACT~C COMPANY Telephone: 808/486-6009 Fax: 808/486-7184 Home Page: www.mactec.com July 12, 2002 53158 0716LA Mr. Galen M. Kuba, Director Department of Environmental Management County of Hawaii 25 Aupuni Street, Room 208 Hilo, Hawaii 96720-4252 Response to Comments Addendum to the ISWMP County of Iladvaii Dear Mr. Kuba: Thank you for passing along Mr. Frankel's comments on the draft of the Addendum to the Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan (ISWMP) for the County of Hawaii. This letter presents our responses as requested. Mr. Frankel's Itean 1 recommends that the ISWMP include more information about which parties are to take which actions. We are not familiar with the jurisdiction of the Environmental Management Commission. The commission was sworn in on May 23, 2001, which was after the award of our contract on April 4, 2001. Our understanding is that the County Council is the body with approval authority for the ISWMP. Therefore, the Environmental Management Commission /County Council /Mayor make the decisions about the county solid waste program, and the decisions are to be implemented by the Solid Waste Division. The draft already indicates either explici$y or implicitly who should take various actions, at least to the extent known to us. Mr. Frankel's Item 2 asks for more detail about how to handle construction and demolition (C&D) waste. The draft ISWMP includes components for recycling C&D waste, but to go beyond what was presented in the draft will enter a design stage that is beyond the scope of our services. Prior to the start of the project, a separate project to plan a new CRtD landfill for Hawaii County was discussed, and was deferred until the ISWMP was completed if the need for such a project then appeared to be warranted. In preliminary discussions with the Hawaii Department of Health, we understand that the department's design and operation requirements for a C&D landfill will likely not differ materially from those for a municipal solid waste landfill. With such requirements, a new landfill in east Hawaii specifically for C&D waste is not economically feasible because of July 12, 2002 53158 0716LA Mr. Galen Kuba County of Hawaii Page 2 the need for leachate management. In our opinion, the county should seek ways to recycle C&D waste and thereby divert as much as practical from the landfill. A study on the need for a C&D landfill to serve the island perhaps should be carried out after new components of the recycling program have been implemented and operated for a period of time Mr. Frankel's Item 3 asks for more detail about greenwaste management. The draft ISWMP includes components for increasing the diversion of greenwaste. The County has an ongoing greenwaste program that can be expanded. The question of buying a chipper for processing greenwaste versus the current approach has been considered by the Solid Waste Division and is an operational decision that the division should make. Mr. Frankel's Iteffi 4 is about the consideration of incineration as a waste reduction technology. As consultants we have no preference for specific technologies. During the planning process, we presented technical information on available municipal solid waste (MSW) management alternatives. The SWAC should discuss and consider their preferences, and the ISWMP will reflect those preferences. For general information, all MSW waste-to-energy facilities must meet the applicable emission standards established under the Clean Air Act. The "maximum achievable control technology" rule with which all facilities were required to comply by the end of 2000 are estimated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce emissions of mercury and dioxins from waste-to-energy plants by about 90% and 99%, respectively from their 1990 levels. Sincerely, Hardin ESE Ronald L. Soroos Principal Geologist RLS:hkf cc: Mr. Laurence E. Capellas, County of Hawaii, Solid Waste Division Enclosures: E-mail with comments by Mr. Frankel Harding ESE A MACTEC COnnPnNS