“Bury and Burn” is a Poor Approach to Waste Management
By Hawaii State Senator Colleen Hanabusa
The image that best depicts many of the prevailing attitudes toward Waimanalo Gulch may be the Three Monkeys: See no evil, Hear no evil, and Speak no evil. I have written on this topic in the past and hoped further comment would be unnecessary. However the recent commentary by city Environmental Services director Eric Takamura, “City has multipronged approach to garbage,” begs for a response.
I have never understood why bureaucrats assume that the public (whom they serve) either have conveniently short memories or simply lose interest in issues once they are no longer in the headlines.
In the case of the Waimanalo Gulch landfill, I believe the public knows enough not to buy Mr. Takamura’s assertion that the city can do no better than to “bury and burn” our refuse, and prolong the continuing burden on a single community.
Let us dissect Mr. Takamura’s piece. First of all, he identifies two impediments to shipping of trash: cost and flow. What he is really saying is that if the City is unable to control the private haulers, the City will loose money; the trash stream is also an income stream.
The cost that Mr. Takamura alludes to is the cost of collecting and processing residential solid waste. The question is who will bear that cost if non-residential entities such as hotels, resorts, commercial properties, and condos, along with the private haulers with which they contract for trash disposal services, can avoid paying the City its $92 a ton tipping fee at a county waste facility. It is no secret that that the City clears almost $80 per ton if the solid waste is placed in a landfill. The control of the rubbish—that is, requiring it to go to a landfill or H Power—is what he calls “flow.” By maintaining its control over this flow, the City can exact its fee from every ton of rubbish.
I have no idea how Mr. Takamura arrives at the conclusion that our island enjoys an effective rate of recycling. Saying that we are “above the national average” does little to prove his point. As an island state, our land is severely limited, and our goal must be to bring recycling to a rate that serves our needs, not those of our mainland counterparts.
It is equally perplexing that he considers H Power, which burns trash, to be a form of recycling. Waste to energy is not recycling. If it were, the City should have installed a third boiler at H Power and encouraged that plastic and paper be utilized to assist in the plant’s ability to burn trash.
Further, taken to its logical but absurd conclusion, Mr. Takamura’s belief in “burning as recycling” would allow the City to meet the public’s demand for curbside recycling with routine trash pick ups. As bizarre and untenable as that position may be on its face, I understand that the City is preparing to make just such an argument.
He is also not quite honest about the effectiveness of H Power. The criticism of H Power and the argument for why a new power generation facility is necessary on the Leeward Coast, arise from the fact that H Power is down—the City’s euphemistic term for “not operating”—for substantial periods of time and, as such, is not a dependable source of energy.
What is most insulting is Mr. Takamura’s assumption that a new landfill site will be in the Waianae area. To add insult to injury, Mr. Takamura alludes to the Waianae community being bought off with a “community benefits package.” This package is what the community was due and owed, especially in light of the burden carried for all of the negative externalities.
There can be doubt that the City is ducking the solid waste challenge. At what point is the rest of our island community going to say, “Enough is enough”? The manner in which Waimanalo Gulch has been operated is a travesty, and no community should be expected to continue to bear that burden.
State Senator Colleen Hanabusa represents the 21st Senatorial District (Waianae, Nanakuli, Lualualei and Makaha) of the State of Hawaii and serves as the Senate President.