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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0759.001 2002-2004Harry Kim Mayor Barbara Bell Director Nelson Ho Deputy Director &TUnfu of '"'ttfntttt <� DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT 25 Aupuni street, Room 210 • Hilo, Hawari 967204252 C.J (808) 961-8083 • Fax (808) 961-8086 September 28, 2004 Mr. Aaron Chung, Chair and Members of the Hawaii County Council Finance Committee 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, H196720 Subject: October 5, 2004 Finance Committee Agenda Item — REFERRALS Resolution 240-04, Authorizing the Acceptance of a Grant Award of $10,000 for the Department of Environmental Management Solid Waste Division's Computer Recycling Project Dear Mr. Chung and Council Members, The DELL grant is an excellent opportunity for Hawaii County to interact with other municipalities nationwide to develop a comprehensive program to divert e -waste from our landfills. Hawaii County was one of 20 recipients out of 175 applicants accepted for this 3`d round of funding under Dell's "No computer should go to Waste" campaign. As a grant recipient, we participate in three multi -media teleconference workshops with the other participants and with grant organizers Dell and the National Recycling Coalition. The workshops provide technical assistance for developing e -waste recycling events and sustainable recycling programs. Workshops include information on vendor selection to ensure that materials are properly processed and recycled and that residuals are disposed of in a manner that meets appropriate environmental and labor standards. Other technical information includes how to secure additional event funding, assistance with advertising and logistical support for events. The DELL grant will be used to sponsor an e -waste recycling event at the State Parks facility at the Old Airport in Kailua-Kona on Saturday, January 29, 2005. At the event, we will accept, for free, computers, monitors, printers, and computer peripherals from residents, public institutions (schools, government agencies, hospitals), and nonprofit organizations. Experience gained in the June 26, 2004 computer recycling event in Hilo, where 25 tons of used computers and parts were diverted from the landfill, demonstrated that approximately 20% of the items dropped off were reusable. Items are tested during the event and "still good" items are set aside to be re -built into systems for needy recipients (schools, nonprofits etc.). Hard drives are wiped clean with appropriate software as a security measure. Comm. No. 7S9 Ref. To:Presented _ Hawai 'i County is an equal opportunity provider and employer. Ref. Date J aA ]/--A/ We are investigating the possibility of accepting other e -waste such as TVs, VCRs at the Kona event. We are also considering opening the event to businesses for a small fee. Our goal is to recycle 40 tons of e -waste at the January 2005 event. Cost of recycling/reusing the 25 tons from the June 26`h event was nearly $9,000 even with considerable volunteer energy supporting the event. Costs of the Kona event are estimated at $14,000 as a third container will be required to accept the anticipated volume and ground transportation costs are higher. The County will partner on this event with Recycle Hawaii, Community Technology Center Hawaii, Keep Hawaii Beautiful, DLNR-State Parks Division, and Matson Navigation Company. We will be seeking other local business partners and school/community organizations to make this event a success. Enclosed is a short report on the June 26`h "Compuwap" event. We would appreciate the County Council's support in identifying recycling as an appropriate disposal method for government e -waste. This would encourage all County agencies to recycle all used computers and peripherals rather than using land disposal. According to information provided by the Sarah Diefendorf of the EPA's Environmental Finance Center, Region IX, e - waste constitutes only 2-5% of municipal solid waste yet it is responsible for 70% of the heavy metals found in U.S. landfills. Depending on the size of the screen, each Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitor contains between one (1) to six and one-half (6%) pounds of lead. Chromium, cadmium, mercury, and zinc are also associated with e -waste, as well as tons of PVC coated cables and plastic casings, which release dioxins when burned. It is critical to the health and longevity of our landfills and solid waste management facilities that these materials be properly recycled. If you would like to discuss this subject further, please feel free to contact me at 961-8083. Barbara Bell DIRECTOR cc: Mayor Harry Kim Lono Tyson, SWD Chief Eileen O'Hora-Weir, Recycling Coordinator enclosures t • COMPUSWAP, JUNE 26, 2004, AUPUNI CONFERENCE ROOM -COUNTY BLDG.- HILO SPONSORED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, SOLID WASTE DIVISION & COORDINATED BY RECYCLE HAWAII (nonprofit ethic. org.) Barbara Radford, owner/manager of Community Technology Center Hawaii (CTCH) with back to camera advising CTCH co-owner and Hilo High students on loading computers for recycling. Hilo High School Kiwin directing vehicles with reusable items to the unloading station on the makai (towards the ocean) side of the building. Inside the Aupuni Conference center, stations were established to test printers, monitors and CPUs. Items for reuse were segregated for return to CTCH's facilities to build into compatible systems to give the many potential recipients who have requested donations. 2 One of the two containers delivered to the site was already %2 full with computers collected at the Kea'au Recycling & Reuse Center over the past 6 months. Items were stored by CTCH Hilo High School Kiwins clown around at the end of their shift from 9am to 2pm. The second container was slightly over %2 full when the event ended. The first container was removed to the Conan Freight yard on Saturday. Both containers were weighed the following Monday before being delivered to Matson Navigation Co. at the Hilo port for transport to Tung Tai in Oakland, CA. Conan Freight helped out by removing the first container Saturday, as it would have disrupted County operations to wait until Monday. Matson Navigation Company was been extremely supportive offering special trans -ocean shipping rates for containers and Tung Tai, the East Bay computer recycler, waived the unit -recycling fee for this community service event. Partners & Outcomes: The first shift of volunteers, the Hilo High School Kiwins, did a fabulous job, but were totally beat at the end of their shift at 2pm. Other community members pitched in assistance during the peak hours until about 4pm. Unfortunately, the second shift of volunteers, the Big Island Pig Hunters, who were supposed to come form 12-5pm cancelled leaving the mop up and moving of tons of "reusable" items to a small and very tired crew. Folks from Recycle Hawai'i, the event organizer, Keep Hawaii Beautiful, and Community Technology Center Hawaii (CTCH) kept on schlepping monitors, CPUs, printer, etc. either back to CTCH's facilities or into the second container if not reusable. County of Hawaii, Recycling Coordinator closed the empty, cleaned -up conference room at 7:30pm. Other partners included Conan Freight Company, Matson Navigation Company, Tung Tai, and the Rotary Club. Container weights revealed that over 21 tons were recycled to the mainland recycler and approximately 4 tons diverted to re -use locally. 3