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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0011.003 2006-2008 January 4, 2007 Hawaii County Council 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii 96720 RE: Testimony in Support of Recycling and Waste to Energy Conversion Good morning Chair and Members of the Hawaii County Council Hello, my name is Aazon Sewake. I'm a 9"' grader at Waiakea High School and a Boy Scout in Troop 23. And my name is Noa Lum. I'm an l la' grader at Kamehameha School and a Boy Scout in Troop 78. We are both working towazds our merit badge for citizenship in the community. As part of our requirement, we need to develop a public presentation about important and unique aspects of our community. Today, we will be providing comments on the waste management issue and how we think it should be handled. Thank you for taking the time to listen to our testimony. We cannot continue dumping more wastes into an already overflowing landfill. There are different options for managing the lazge annual waste stream including making a new landfill in Hilo, recycling, trucking the wastes to Pu'uanahulu landfill, and/or setting up a waste to energy facility. As faz as the different management options, building a new landfill is not a good option. To build a new landfill, it would cost $32M in capital costs and $6M in annual operational costs. Building a landfill costs more than building a waste to energy facility. A waste to energy facility would cost $25M in capital costs and $2M in annual operational costs. Anew landfill will take up space that we don't have because we live on an island with limited land mass. Also, Hawaii's environment is unique and fragile, and therefore we cannot risk polluting it by dumping the lazge amounts of wastes into it that we currently do. The other option of trucking the wastes to Pu'uanahulu landfill is also not a good option because it is only a temporary solution. Eventually, the landfill will reach full capacity and we will have the same problem again years from now that we do today. Although trucking the wastes to Pu'uanahulu would cost only $2M in capital costs to set up intially, it would cost $4M to operate annually, and so in the long run, it will be a very expensive alternative. What we do support is a combination of recycling and waste to energy Cov~v ~ vn as the methods to reduce the waste stream. First and foremost, we need to increase our efforts in recycling. About 75% of the waste stream in the South Hilo landfill is composed of products that can be recycled or composted including paper, glass, metal, plastic and organics. More organized recycling sort stations and composting sites should be set up in East and West Hawaii to take out as much of the recyclable materials as possible from the waste stream. After the recyclable materials have been diverted, the volume of the remaining wastes will be greatly reduced and could be incinerated in Hilo~roduce energy that can be used to replace fossil fuel. Less greenhouse gas and toxic emissions aze produced by incineration than by a landfill because ~y Comm. No. Ref. To: ~a~~~ Ref. Clote^ N ~ 4 of modem emission controls, making it more environmentally friendly. The ash remaining after combustion is safe to throw in a landfill or be reused as recyclable material. Incinerators can also break down toxic wastes into non-hazazdous forms. A fmal option that we would like to offer that has not been studied is incineration by a solar furnace. A solaz furnace will not work in Hilo, but may work in Kona due to its bright sunny days. One requirement of a solaz furnace is constant sunlight and cleaz skies, which can be met if the facility is in Kona, or an ideal location in West Hawaii. One scenario is that after maximum recycling, the remaining wastes aze trucked to a solar furnace plant in Kona. Reducing the volume of wastes to be trucked to Kona will reduce the annual operational costs of trucking. It is estimated that the current hauling load of 187 tons per day can be reduced to 68 tons per day with maximum recycling efforts. Once in Kona, a solaz furnace can reduce wastes to practically nothing. A solar furnace uses many mirrors to reflect and concentrate solaz energy into a focal point capable of reaching temperatures as high as 4,000° C. At that high temperature, most objects aze vaporized. The sun's energy is clean energy. The main problem with incinerators is that fossil fuels are used to burn the wastes which creates more greenhouse gases and uses more of our natural fuels. With the use of a solar furnace, no fossil fuels will be needed to bum the wastes which eliminates greenhouse gas emissions altogether and saves our natural resources. Thank you again for your attention and consideration of our comments and suggestions. We appreciate your efforts in moving the County of Hawaii forwazd for its citizens. Sincerely, Aazon Sewake 1287-A Puhau Street Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Phone: 808-959-6768 Noa Lum 1554 Waianuenue Avenue Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Phone: 808-935-0616