HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0521.022 2002-2004 r
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HAWAII COUNTY COUNCIL~~~~"`''
County ojHawai'i
Hawaii County Building
15 Aupuni Street
Hilo, Hawaii 96710
MEMORANDUM
TO: AARON S.Y. CHUNG, FINANCE COMMITTEE CHAIR
AND COMMITTEE MEMBERS
FROM: MICHAEL C. TULANG, Vice-Chairn
Committee on Parks and Environmental Management
DATE: APRIL 19, 2004
RE: SORT STATION
We commend the Departmem of Environmental Management for initiating steps to make a Waste
Reduction Facility a reality in East Hawaii. We also support the replication of recycling facilities at all
our existing landfills and transfer stations. However, we have serious concerns regarding the county's
capital investment and continuing financial commitment to operate an East Hawaii Sort Station
subsequent to the Department of Environmental Management issuing a Request for Information (RIP) and
Request for Proposal (RFP). Logically a sort station should be part of the Waste Reduction Facihty and
therefore, part of the RIF and RFP process. We feel it is premature to commit to such a substarnial
investment when there are questions left unanswered.
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1. Is a sort station the only option for us to extend the life of the East Hawaii landfill?
2. Is the proposed sort station at an ideal location for our future waste reduction technology (WRT)?
3. Is the capacity of the proposed sort station large enough for our future WRT? LS it too large?
4. Will our commitment to a sort station limit our WRT options?
5. Are there WRTs that do not require pubfic investment in a sort station for East Hawaii?
6. Will the resources for the sort station be more effectively used by spending it directly into our
WRT?
These questions can best be answered when the Department of Environmental Management is further
along in its WRT selection process. Uirtil we are satisfied that these (and other) questions have been
addressed, we feel it is inappropriate to make a commitment of this magnitude to the proposed East
Hawaii sort station.
We recommend excluding all funding in the FYE 2005 Operating and CIP budgets associated with the
proposed sort station until we have a more clear direction of WRT.
Comm. No. Z~ • Z
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