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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-08-08 SWAC Meeting Minutes SOLID WASTE ADVISORY COMMITTEE COUNTY OF HAWAIʻI Meeting Minutes Wednesday, August 8, 2018 1:02 p.m. to 3:05 p.m. Aging and Disability Resource Center 1055 Kinoʻole Street, Suite 101 Hilo, Hawaiʻi 96720 Committee members present: Georjean Adams Steven Araujo (arrived at 1:14 p.m.) Barbara Bell Paul Buklarewicz Robert Ely George Hayducsko, Chair Staff and others present: Mary Fujio, Director’s private secretary (DEM) Dennis Lee, Wesley R. Segawa & Associates, Inc. Dwight Miller, Parametrix (via phone) Gene Quiamas, Environmental Compliance Specialist (DEM) Katheryn Seckel, Parametrix Keyra Wong, Deputy Corporation Counsel Not present: Alan Okinaka, Vice Chair Adam Scharf, Member 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Hayducsko called the meeting to order at 1:02 p.m. He pointed out that a correction was needed on agenda item 5.a. The July site visit occurred on July 11, 2018, not on July 7, 2018. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF: a. May 9, 2018, Meeting Motion and second: Ms. Bell moved to approve the minutes, and Ms. Adams seconded the motion. Chair Hayducsko said a correction needed to be made. Mr. Scharf was incorrectly listed as not present; however, he was present and made comments. Mr. Buklarewicz wanted a correction made on page 3, where he said Recycle Hawaiʻi pulled in 225 tons of e-waste in a 12-month period at 38 cents per pound. He clarified that this is based on a 3-year average for both East and West Hawaiʻi. Motion and vote: Ms. Adams moved to approve the minutes with the corrections, Ms. Bell seconded the motion, and all members voted aye. b. June 13, 2018, Limited Meeting and Site Visits Motion and second: Ms. Bell moved to approve the minutes, and Ms. Adams seconded the motion. Ms. Adams noted that the phrase “commissioners present” needed to be replaced with “committee members present.” Motion and vote: Ms. Bell moved to approve the minutes as corrected, Ms. Adams seconded the motion, and all members voted aye. c. July 11, 2018, Limited Meeting and Site Visits Motion and second: Mr. Buklarewicz moved to approve the minutes, and Mr. Ely seconded the motion. Chair Hayducsko pointed out that again the word “commissioners” needed to be replaced with “committee members” wherever it appeared. Motion and vote: Ms. Adams moved to approve the minutes as corrected, Ms. Bell seconded the motion, and all members voted aye. Chair Hayducsko introduced Katheryn Seckel, who is with Parametrix and works with Dwight Miller. He explained that Mr. Miller would be participating in today’s meeting by phone, as he was not able to be there in person. He will be able to hear and can jump in if he needs to. 3. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC No one from the public was present. 4. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Distribute and discuss the “Draft Status of Hawaiʻi County’s 2009 IRSWMP” recommendations. 2 Chair Hayducsko explained that he and Ms. Seckel would be tag-teaming on the various agenda items. Ms. Seckel passed out two handouts, one a timeline for the report and the other a workbook for recommendations and options. She explained that the 2009 plan had extensive work put into it and is a good plan. She clarified that the SWAC’s task is not to create a new plan, but to revise the plan with current and new information. It was brought to her attention that the process needed to move forward a little faster, so the timeline is aggressive but doable, given that they are revising the plan and not doing a total revamp. Ms. Seckel said she is working with Dwight Miller for Parametrix. She explained her background and history in solid waste planning, and how it runs in her family. She created the SWAC Workbook for Recommendations and Options (“workbook), which is closely tied to the schedule and is designed to help the members make decisions. The objective is to engage the SWAC and County into looking at options and recommendations for the 2019 plan by starting with the 2009 plan. Since the members have visited the solid waste sites and are savvy on the current County conditions, they can focus on options and recommendations. She explained that the members were being given homework, and they would have two weeks to do it. They were to look through the 2009 plan and make decisions. She provided instructions on how to use the workbook, which includes each recommendation in the 2009 plan, the chapter to find them, and the status of each recommendation. Their help is needed to determine whether to retain or remove a recommendation, and provide context and their own ideas. They can expand as much as they want. Several members had questions about how to use the workbook, and Ms. Seckel and Chair Hayducsko provided answers. Chair Hayducsko said that if a member was interested only in certain sections of the plan, he/she could concentrate on those sections. They did not need to go through every single chapter and recommendation, but could focus on what they were most interested in. It was decided the workbook needed to be made fillable so that members could type in their comments and ideas. The font also needed to be made bigger to make it more readable. Ms. Seckel said she would have someone at Parametrix convert the workbook into something the members could work with. Ms. Wong reminded the members that they needed to do their homework on their own, without interacting with other members. At an open meeting, they can discuss everything. Ms. Seckel stated that after she receives their input, the County will also provide input. At the September 12, 2018, meeting, the County and SWAC will come together. She transitioned to the timeline handout, which showed the schedule. It goes chapter by chapter, showing when rough drafts are to be prepared, submitted to the County, and then to Parametrix by the County with comments. They are working with the County to make sure they 3 are accurately depicting existing conditions and want to get a somewhat complete draft to the SWAC before they start reviewing those existing conditions. They have already prepared rough drafts on several chapters. Looking at the timeline, the SWAC members will have two weeks to look through and provide comments to the County on Chapters 3 through 7. The County will review and digest the SWAC’s input. They will meet on September 12 to deliberate again and talk about options and recommendations. Parametrix will be paralleling them, working on an interim draft that will ultimately go to the SWAC for review. As the interim draft is being worked on, the SWAC will be making decisions on Chapters 8 through 10. Parametrix is slated to provide the interim draft on November 9, 2018. The SWAC will meet on November 14, 2018, where they can talk about their impressions and bring up any red flags. They County and SWAC will review and combine their comments together on the interim draft and submit it to Parametrix on November 23, 2018, and Parametrix will start working on the next draft, which will go to the State Department of Health (“DOH”) by December 14, 2018. The DOH will have 90 days by law to review the preliminary draft. The SWAC does not have a meeting scheduled during the time the DOH will be reviewing the preliminary draft. A meeting will be scheduled as they get closer to the process. Chair Hayducsko explained that the drafts Parametrix prepared so far are only on existing conditions, which need to be updated to show what is presently going on—how many transfer stations exist now, how many recycling sites, etc. The SWAC members were instructed to do their homework and submit their recommendations and options to Mary Fujio by August 22, 2018. Discussion was held on whether there is a way to prioritize recommendations, as some are definitely more important than others. Chair Hayducsko said they needed to figure out a mechanism on how prioritize as a group. Ms. Seckel suggested that to help prioritize, they could reflect on the goals that were established in the plan. All of the goals are on two pages, and perhaps they could prioritize based on the seven bullets there. Ms. Adams asked why “resources” was not in the title of the plan now, and Chair Hayducsko said they are following what the state is calling the plan. The contents will be the same. 5. NEW BUSINESS a. Summary by George Hayducsko of the June 13, 2018, and July 11, 2018, Limited Meetings and Site Visits and discussion regarding facility conditions. Chair Hayducsko briefly summarized the SWAC’s site visits. At the June visit they spent some time at the landfill itself, receiving an overview of the process. They also stopped by the sort station, where haulers and businesses dump their rubbish. While remaining in the van, they drove by the organics facility, the HI-5 Redemption Center, and the 2-bin recycling area. Then they visited the Pāhoa Recycling and Transfer Station and viewed the system there, and then made a quick stop at the Keaʻau Recycling and Transfer Station. 4 On July 11, 2018, they visited the west side. First they saw the West Hawaiʻi Sanitary Landfill, where Greg Goodale and Gene Quiamas provided an overview. They then saw the West Hawaiʻi Organics Facility, and then the Puakō Recycling and Transfer Station. They had lunch at Ms. Bell’s home. Their last stop was at the Waimea Recycling and Transfer Station, where a major issue is the heavy wind. He heard from the members that signage and education are problems. Signs need to be updated, and more education is needed. The SWAC’s goal as a committee is not to micro- manage but to make sure information, such as the signage and education issues, gets into the report. He went around the table and asked each member for their thoughts from the site visits. Ms. Bell said there has to be a way to have the security guards or transfer station attendants help educate people when they dispose of their trash. She knows there are union issues, but it is not acceptable when she goes to the Puakō Transfer Station and sees the worker just sitting there in his truck. Mr. Buklarewicz said he still wonders why he can’t bring his used motor oil to the transfer stations. Mr. Ely said he uses the Keaʻau Transfer Station frequently and would say that about a third of the time, the bins are overflowing. In addition, there is a new contractor handling the Reuse Center, and the changes made there have not been for the better. Mainly, it is very messy. Ms. Adams said she has the same comments as the others. There is a separate need for education. It is easier to throw things away than to recycle. She was sorely disappointed at the sort station in Hilo, because there is a lot of commercial waste that could be recycled. The signage also needs improving. There needs to be constant awareness and training. People just don’t know what can and cannot be done. Management needs to be more on top of things. At the Waimea Transfer Station, which she uses, it is often overflowing. Pressure needs to be put on the people who run the thrift stores. Mr. Araujo said he echoes everybody. The regional sort station was originally built as a reload station before Mayor Kim’s administration, and he doesn’t know how it got changed. The County needs better personnel management at the transfer stations, sort station, and landfills. Scrap iron and oil still get dumped. He sees commercial vehicles dumping their loads at the transfer stations. The recycle and reuse areas are like wayward thrift stores, with rusty and open containers of paint. A lot of the items people donate end up in the landfill because they are not stored properly. The County needs better contracts with vendors. Vendors need to be held to their responsibilities. The greenwaste system, on the other hand, is working perfectly and is nice and clean. Chair Hayducsko thanked everyone for their comments. 5 b. Status of plan development and schedule. Chair Hayducsko said this was already discussed, but if they had any questions, Ms. Seckel was there to help. Ms. Bell asked for clarification on when their work would be done, and Ms. Seckel answered that the SWAC is to try to complete their work in December. They may need to meet again, depending on the degree of comments received from the DOH. c. County’s proposed recommendations discussion. (1) Proposed East Hawaiʻi Organics Facility update. Chair Hayducsko asked Gene Quiamas to update them on the status of this new project. Mr. Quiamas said the EA is done and waiting to be published. Chair Hayducsko presented several slides, showing a map of the project location and an aerial photograph of the area. He also showed slides of a typical process flow diagram, a conceptual site plan, an “unwinding device” and blower unit, and covered windrows. The proposed site is on about three acres at the Shipman Industrial Park. The facility is to be operated by Hawaiian Earth Recycling. The conceptual plan has a waste receiving area, biofilter, scale, office, and windrows. The composting will be aerobic. It will be a closed, controlled system and is on the high end for composting. Ms. Adams asked where the organics will come from, and Chair Hayducsko said a lot of the material will be greenwaste and foodwaste. Exactly where the additional material will come from or how it will get to the facility has not yet been identified. The vendor has told the County they can make compost with what they have, but the County should look into capturing additional tonnage of organics and how to collect and transport the organics. Chair Hayducsko said if the SWAC is concerned about how the organics facility will get the waste, they should include it in the report. Does a study need to be done to figure out where the material will come from? Can the food be picked up every day? These are a few of the questions that could be answered in a report. The next slide showed the minimum annual tonnage which the County guarantees to HER and the tonnage guarantee starting July 1, 2020. Ms. Bell asked if there was a contractor to build the facility and run it, and Chair Hayducsko said the County would be building it, and there would be a contract for the management and operation. Mr. Quiamas said the draft EA is to be published on August 23, 2018. As soon as the County receives the funds, they will go into the design of the facility. The design is relatively simple. The vendor will need to go through some testing to ensure the compost being made meets the criteria set by the U.S. Composting Council. From there, the County can start taking in material for composting. The drop-dead date is July 1, 2020. 6 Mr. Araujo asked if the County bought the parcel from Shipman, and Mr. Quiamas said Shipman’s indications are they want to lease. However, everything hinges on the outcome of the final EA. The land acquisition and design cannot be completed until the final EA is done. Mr. Araujo said the intersection by Shipman Industrial Park is very dangerous, and it will be bad if the general public has to go there. Mr. Quiamas said the DOT has a project to fund and signalize that intersection during the next fiscal year. (2) New technologies. Chair Hayducsko said some members had asked him to check out BioEnergy Hawaiʻi. He has been playing phone tag with Guy Kaniho. He will try to get some information about the project and perhaps have Mr. Kaniho give a short presentation on it. Ms. Seckel said there are a lot of new technologies out there, but they are very specific as to size of community, population centers, how much waste is generated, and what is trying to be done. The SWAC need to narrow what they want to look at—are they looking to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? Improve the sorting of recyclables? Improve the sorting of solid waste residuals before going to the landfill? Once the Committee identifies what needs to be improved, then a study can be done. Ms. Adams asked if the waste characterization was going to be updated, and Chair Hayducsko said there is no plan to do a waste characterization study for the plan. However, if the SWAC recommends it, they can make that suggestion. Ms. Seckel said there was a 2008 study referenced in the 2009 plan, and she believes it would have similar results now. Ms. Adams said she was just asking the question, as she wonders whether things have changed enough to warrant another study. Mr. Araujo said that being a hauler, he feels how tonnage is calculated is wrong. It is the volume that should matter, not the weight. The landfill is not getting too heavy—it is getting too full. Chair Hayducsko said waste composition studies are useful, but he is concerned because they always get just a snapshot of the waste, whatever was dumped in that timeframe. The waste could be very different in another hour. Dwight Miller (via speakerphone) asked to weigh in on this. He said a waste characterization study could be done, focusing on those areas of greatest interest. Some major demographic and social changes have occurred in the past 10 years, particularly with online shopping and the packaging with that, and the types of plastics being used. A study would help get a better feel for the recyclables that are to go into the various facilities being proposed. He would like to do a waste characterization study and focus on those areas of particular interest to the County and where the best opportunities are for pulling material out of the landfill. 7 Mr. Araujo said before a waste characterization study is done, they may want to go back and look at previous studies done. One was done before the initiation of the tipping fee. The company that did the study went through and weighed everything that went into the landfill. Ms. Bell said there was also a study done in 2002. (3) Other potential options of emphasis for waste diversion: construction and demolition, cardboard, promotion and education. Ms. Seckel that for a waste composition study, they would try to identify particular low- hanging fruit. In looking at the 2008 study, cardboard was an item that could use a better system. Not all transfer stations have the option of separating cardboard, so an idea that could be integrated into the plan is to separate cardboard at all stations. The committee members discussed ideas on how to implement having cardboard recycling at all the transfer stations. On construction and demolition, Ms. Seckel said it could stay on the island, as far as reusing materials from construction projects in new projects—such as reusing concrete. The permitting process could require commercial developers to do some sort of waste reduction plan. It has become more regulated across the nation. There are a lot of opportunities to reuse C&D material on the island. Ms. Bell wondered how C&D material could be reused on the island, and Mr. Buklarewicz said there is an Oahu company that will be hiring in Kona to market C&D material. There is a big market for it. Mr. Miller said there is some material, such as drywall and clean wood, that would have a strong market in certain locations. There are definitely opportunities to use it. It is also better to use a lot of this material, such as concrete and asphalt, as an inert fill rather than have it go to a mixed landfill where it is just mixed in with other garbage, which does not take advantage of the inert characteristics. When construction companies start identifying the materials they are generating, then markets will develop with vendors who will actually start using the material. It would also be good to have pre-demolition or pre-construction recycling plans for commercial projects so the recyclers out there can see what materials will become available and secure them for their recycling facilities. If the message gets out that materials are available, markets can be developed around them. Regarding education and outreach, Chair Hayducsko provided an overview on what is being done this year. They have a budget to do education and outreach, but it concerns him that not enough is being done. They currently have $85,000 budgeted for the education and outreach project discussed. In developing the outreach, the first thing is to decide what message they want to get out to the public—it needs to be a message that reaches peoples’ hearts. It should be simple to update their handouts and publications. The next step is to develop signage at the transfer stations, which is on their schedule to do. Another step is to reach out to the community, through radio ads, TV, public service 8 announcements, and the newspaper, on how to use the recycling bins. They will be reaching out to schools to see if there can be public service announcements addressed at sporting events. He would also like to air PSAs at movie theaters. The members discussed whether a local video designed to educate could be done. Regarding the collection of used motor oil, Chair Hayducsko said they can do a better job of promoting this program. d. Status of 2009 Plan and new options and recommendations – moving forward. Chair Hayducsko said they have covered this already. He reminded the members to send their homework and any ideas to Mary Fujio, who will collect them and forward them on to Parametrix. 6. ANNOUNCEMENTS Chair Hayducsko announced the next meeting: September 12, 2018, at the same time and place. 7. ADJOURNMENT Motion and vote: Ms. Bell moved to adjourn, Ms. Adams seconded the motions, and all members voted aye. The meeting adjourned at 3:05 p.m. Respectfully submitted: Mary E. Fujio Private Secretary to the Director