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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0011.006 2006-2008 Page 1 of 1 Murashige, Laura _________..__----....__.__~__----____._~_.._v_____-- From: Vivian Landrum [vivian@kona-kohala com] 2'~~ FED Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 11:14 AM _ To: counciltestimony@co.hawaii.hi.us r~;y,,~l Subject: Testimony on Bill #3 Attachments: composting facility position paper 012307.pdf Aloha! Please accept the attached letter of support for Hawaii County Bill #3 to be heard on Wednesday, Feb. 7 at the County Council meeting. Please contact me if you have any questions. Mahalo, Vivian Landrum ~Yd r~_eonn{ n or~ie+~cr Vivian Landrum Executive Director 75-5737 Kuakini Hwy., Ste. 208 Kailua-Kona, HI 96740 808.329.175B fax 808.329.8564 vivian@kona-kohala. com www. kona •kohala. com COnlnl. KO. W Ref. 70: ~'~e»d Ref. Date 2/5/2007 K~A,.~ 75-.5737 Kuakini Hwy-, Sud° 208 CH~BER, Kailua-Kona, 11198740 OP COMMERCE F'honr SOB 3291758 Fax: fl0&329-8`.164 wVJW.kona~NOh212 L°m k°~wkcc FPgic nf~t February 5, 2007 Honorable Pete Hoffmann, Chair Members of the Hawaii County Council 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, HI 96720 Re: Position: Support Passage of 2007 Hawaii County Bill #3: Organics and Greenwaste Composting Infrastructure in West Hawaii Dear Council Chairman and Members, The Kona- Kohala Chamber of Commerce strongly supports passage of Hawaii County Bill #3 for the following reasons: Background: There is insufficient demand for the current mulch product in Kona resulting in liabilities related to stockpiling materials. The County's greenwaste diversion program has allowed for both residential and commercial drop-off with no tipping fees. Diverted greenwaste continues to be approximately 12-15% of the waste tonnage accounted for on this island. The County is presently diverting approximately 66% of greenwaste from the landfills although segregated loads of raw greenwaste are still entering transfer stations and, to a lesser extent, the West Hawai i Sanitary Landfill. Rationale for Position of Support: Thirty percent of the waste entering landfills is characterized as organic, of which approximately 15% is food waste and 9% is clean (untreated) lumber waste (see chart on page 3). Last fiscal year (OS-06), 48,290 tons of greenwaste was collected and processed. This island wide amount represents 58% of the tonnage landfilled in East Hawai i in the same period. Meanwhile, the overarching County- wide Solid Waste goal is to reduce what goes into any landfill, recognizing the landfill as a resource not to be squandered. Expanding to an organics diversion program allows for additional diversion from landfills by channeling food waste, untreated lumber, biosolids, and fats, oils and grease, which can be included in properly processed compost or processed into biodiesel or a vegetative equivalent of bunker fuel used for electric generation. Composting is a basic building block of landfill diversion programs and makes sense for West Hawaii for many reasons: Composting is significantly cheaper than landfilling; the payback period for construction costs of this facility is only 2.8 years. The largest and most cost-effective gains in overall landfill diversion can be achieved quickly through an organics diversion program. • Composting produces a certified compost and biodiesel, value-added products that are either currently being shipped to us from off-island or not available; this will reduce the cost of business for visitor industry transportation companies, resorts, landscapers and agricultural industries. • Composting eliminates the spread of invasive weeds and alien species including insects and pests such as coqui frogs, fire ants, caterpillars, and snails. • This facility provides an incentive to separate acceptable organics from mixed solid waste loads. • Unprocessed greenwaste is generally not used as fuel stock for incinerators and other types of waste-to-energy technologies as it is mostly water and must be processed first for that type of use. When used in awaste-to-energy application, there is no resultant value-added product such as certified compost or biodiesel. • Other organics can be added to a compost product which are not legal to include in mulch, and which would otherwise have to be landfilled: biosolids, some paper fibers, some food scraps; This facility will help make it possible to meet State Department of Health (DOH) waste management laws: • DOH currently mandates that Hawaii County keep approximately 66% of all greenwaste out of landfills. Department of Health, Hawai i Administrative Rules Title 11, Chapter 58.1 `Solid Waste Management Control' states: 11-58.1-65 Special solid waste controls. (b) Green wastes. Solid waste disposal facilities shall have in place by December 31, 1994, a plan to ban or require source separation of green waste from entering the disposal facility. The plan shall detail requirements for diversion of seventy-five percent of all commercially generated green waste by December 31, 1995 and fifty percent of all residential green waste by December 31, 1996. If, based on data submitted by the operator as part of the annual report, these diversion rates are not achieved, all commercial green waste shall be banned from the facility by December 31, 1995, and residential green waste by December 31, 1996." • The current DOH permits require that the stockpiles of both unprocessed greenwaste and shredded greenwaste (mulch) be maintained at specified heights and quantities to mitigate fire and environmental hazards. The stockpiles are now reduced to within compliance with DOH permits, which has involved great effort and extra expense. At the Kona site, incoming quantities exceed outgoing quantities of the low-value mulch. A facility is needed in a new location in West Hawaii because: Composting is not possible at the present East Hawai i site due to excessive rainfall and the demand for the mulch currently matches the output of shredded greenwaste. • The Kealakehe Solid Waste Transfer Station and baseyard, which has housed the greenwaste and scrap metal recycling yards for over a decade is too small, causing operational and safety concerns. Both Hilo and Kealakehe/Kailua are currently stockpiling and processing greenwaste in areas that have been determined to be contaminated by previous scrap metal programs. These Brownfield sites need to be remediated, proper drainage provided, and properly capped. Hawaii County Council Page 2 of 4 Given the incoming quantities, there is insufficient space at the present West Hawai i location at Kealakehe Transfer Station to safely process (grinding) into mulch or to further process to produce compost. Additionally, the site is difficult for the public to access given traffic congestion in the greater Kailua-Kona area. A business model which uses government land coupled with private operations providing equipment and labor has been chosen for this project. This provides a consistent location for the public while allowing the vendor to be flexible and take advantage of operational efficiencies as they see fit. ORGANICS 3UMMARY Fiscal Year Hilo Kona Total/Ton % increase Total Average Ending s Amount/$ Price per Ton 1995 150 150 1996 749 749 400% 1997 1,138 1,138 52% 1998 1,498 1,498 32% 1999 3,063 3,063 105% 2000 3,554 2,170 5>724 87% 2001 4,864 4,086 8,950 56% $283,636.1 $31.69 1 2002 5,794 6,202 11,996 34% $384,496.3 $32.05 6 2003 7,778 6,392 14,170 18% $452,836.8 $31,96 1 2004 6,961 10,708 17>669 24% $611,007.0 $34.58 5 2005 11,369 22,848 34,217 94% $1,251,582 $36.58 .85 2006* 26,203 26,203 52,406 94% $1,864,081 $35.57 .00 * FY 2005-06 is an estimate for the entire fiscal year based on mid-year data and includes mulching of pre-existing stockpiles of unprocessed greenwaste estimated to have contributed 15,000 tons to this total tonnage The eventual inclusion of an adjacent fat, oil, and grease processing facility adjacent to the composting facility promotes a biodiesel/alternative fuel industry, which would contribute significantly readily available emission-free and less expensive vehicle fuel for Hawai i residents and visitors. Thank you for considering this written testimony. Based on this information, we ask the Council to support Hawaii County Bill #3. The Kona-Kohala Chamber of Commerce Hawaii County Council Page 3 of 4 represents over 675 member businesses from Ka'u to Kohala. Our mission is to advocate a successful business environment in West Hawaii. Our vision is to provide leadership for enhancing quality of life incorporating our unique communities, cultures and resources. Thank you for your leadership. Sincerely, //7 sG Ron Aronson President c: Mayor Harry Kim Barbara Bell, Director Hawaii County Council Page 4 of 4