By PETER SUR By PETER SUR ADVERTISING Tribune-Herald staff writer A pilot program to truck garbage from Hilo and Puna transfer station sites has ended, a county Department of Environmental Management official said, and County Council members would like to
By PETER SUR
Tribune-Herald staff writer
A pilot program to truck garbage from Hilo and Puna transfer station sites has ended, a county Department of Environmental Management official said, and County Council members would like to keep it that way.
By a 8-0 vote, the council’s Environmental Management Committee approved a bill that requires any trash delivered to eight East Hawaii transfer stations to be taken to the South Hilo Sanitary Landfill for disposal. They include all sort stations from Honomu down to Volcano and Kalapana.
The other 14 sort stations, from Pahala to Laupahoehoe and comprising all of South, West and North Hawaii, are designated for disposal in the Pu‘uanahulu Sanitary Landfill.
If approved, the bill would not change any existing practice, but if the county wanted to haul any more garbage from the Hilo-designated transfer stations to the West Hawaii landfill it would need approval from the County Council.
The bill advances to the full council with a positive recommendation.
Council Chairman Dominic Yagong drafted the bill following a controversy that erupted in Kona following Mayor Billy Kenoi’s statement at a town hall meeting that “There’s absolutely no decision about trucking rubbish to Pu‘uanahulu.”
While that was technically true, the mayor didn’t mention that on Jan. 27 a pilot program had begun sending garbage from the transfer stations in Hilo, Kea‘au and Pahoa to Pu‘uanahulu.
The program ended in April, said Greg Goodale, the county’s Solid Waste Division chief, to the council committee.
Yagong’s bill allows the mayor to waive the law temporarily by executive order in the event of an emergency such as a tsunami or hurricane. The bill does not affect recyclable items.
“I’m opposed to taking the Hilo trash and bringing it here to Kona,” Yagong said from the West Hawaii Civic Center.
Later, he added: “It (the bill) sets out a very clear directive to the administration as to where they can transfer their trash … it creates an open and transparent process to let the people know what’s going on.”
The other lawmakers appeared receptive to the bill, although Hilo Councilman Donald Ikeda asked what would happen in the event of a closure of the Hilo landfill, which he said could come within three years. Yagong replied that the state Department of Health would likely give more than a year’s notice before the landfill would be declared full, giving the council time to find a long-term solution to the problem. Councilman Dennis Onishi was not present for the vote.
After the meeting, Councilman J Yoshimoto explained why he supported the bill.
“I think what the bill does is specify for the public’s benefit where the solid waste is going to be disposed of, so they know where to expect,” Yoshimoto said.
The transfer stations that feed into the Hilo landfill are in Honomu, Papa‘ikou, Hilo, Kea‘au, Glenwood, Pahoa, Volcano and Kalapana. Solid waste is accepted into the Pu‘uanahulu landfill from stations in Laupahoehoe, Pa‘auilo, Honoka‘a, Waimea, Hawi, Puako, Kailua-Kona, Keauhou, Kealakekua, Waiea, Miloli‘i, Ocean View, Wai‘ohinu and Pahala.
Email Peter Sur at psur@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
