HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0918.002 2012-2014 COUNTY CLERK
Recycle ' Hawaii UNTYOFHAWAII
P.O. Box 4847 • Hilo, Hawai'i • 96720 r /0 - ,.
Office Tel: 808.969.2012 • Fax: 808.969.2014 Date
www.recyclehawaii.org • info @recyclehawaii.org
FEIN: 99-0293381
To: Honorable Margaret Wille
Committee on Ag, Water, and Energy Sustainability, Chair
RE: Support of Resolution No. 452
Aloha,
As the state's longest standing and the county's most active recycling organization,
Recycle Hawaii has a special obligation to protect the public interest in all matters
related to the generation and management of waste. On behalf of the citizens who will
be impacted by the outcome of Mayor Kenoi's waste reduction facility solicitation for
decades to come, we applaud Councilor Wille for her willingness to bring forth this
resolution and we encourage all councilors to vote in support of it.
A requirement for a single proposer with three years experience handling 95,000 tons of
municipal solid waste generated by East Hawaii residents is a solicitation for a massive
waste-to-energy facility. We agree with claims made by Bobby Jean Leithead-Todd and
Mayor Kenoi that the language of the RFP was broad, but there is far more to a
government solicitation than language. . . the requirements were prohibitive.
First, we believe basing the RFP on the 95,000 + tonnage was done to attract waste-to-
energy proposals. East Hawaii doesn't generate that level of waste and we believe that
major trends in the packaging, manufacturing and farming industries, which support
decreased levels of waste generation and increased levels of resource reclamation
indicate that we never will.
Second, DEM is fully aware that East Hawaii's downstream discards contain roughly
30% compostable materials, 50% recyclables, 10% reclaimable items and 10%
materials of no value. G� f�
Recycle Hawai'i is a 501 (c)(3)educational non-profit organization serving the IsicipaloP a"±.. ` '8,
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An RFP that would have allowed for a resource-based approach to waste reduction
would have allowed for collaboration between vendors, each with at least 3 years
experience in recycling or reclaiming the volume of discards related to their area of
expertise. This means a vendor experienced at handling 30,000 tons of compostables
per year could have collaborated with a vendor experienced in handling 50,000 tons of
recyclables per year and a vendor experienced in handling 12,000 tons of reusable
items per year to reduce waste in a manner that would have maximized benefits to the
environment and the local economy through promoting recycling and reclamation
businesses and creating jobs.
This was not possible under the current RFP.
You had to be a single proposer with three years experience handling 95,000 tons of
municipal solid waste.
Despite claims by DEM that "team approaches" were permissible, the details in the RFP
made it clear that only teamwork under the design/build/operate approach would qualify.
Under the terms of the RFP, a team of experienced operators who came together for
this solicitation would not have the required experience. If the county can allow a
waste-to-energy developer to collaborate for the first time ever with a local contractor to
build their plant and another contractor to operate it and not consider this collaboration
"unproven," than there is no legitimate reason a number of vendors qualified in their
respective areas of waste management could not collaborate for the first time on a
resource-based waste reduction strategy.
RFP 3044 needs to be withdrawn and re-written to allow for such strategies if a
resource-based approach is going to compete with waste-to-energy proposals.
Recycle Hawaii is a 501 (c)(3)educational non-profit organization serving the Island of Hawaii.