Hawai'i nei

2) “And Man created the plastic bag and the tin and aluminum can and
the cellophane wrapper and the paper plate and the disposable bottle,
and this was good because Man could then take his automobile and buy
his food all in one place and he could save that which was good to eat
in his refrigerator and throw away that which had no further use. And
pretty soon the earth was covered with plastic bags and aluminum cans
and paper plates and disposable bottles, and there was nowhere left to
sit down or to walk. And Man shook his head and cried, ‘Look at all
this God-awful litter.’” –Art Buchwald, 1970. Now it is the year 2007
and not much has changed. The island of O’ahu produces about 1.3
million tons of waste annually from commercial, industrial, and
residential sources. That is 2,600,000,000 pounds--over two
billion!--of trash that needs to be put somewhere each year. Where is
all of this trash going? Currently, it goes to the almost-filled
Waimanalo Gulch Landfill which is scheduled to close next year. But the
mayor has applied for a two-year extension of the landfill that is
almost at full capacity. It is the only municipal landfill in the city
and the state seems to be stuck on what to do next. The landfill has
already been cited for eighteen violations over the last two years and
the city is being fined $2.8 million , money that could have been used
to fund a new, sustainable, waste disposal project. Because we know
that the landfill will be closing within a matter of months, the state
has inevitably been investigating other sites for the new landfill.
Particularly in Wai’anae. No one wants the city’s giant garbage can in
their back yard, so when Mufi Hannemann went to a town meeting to
discuss the project, he was met with even more disapproval from the
community (including residents and homeless) than he probably expected.
But I think the recent political activity of the public, and the
backlash from this proposal has done some good in creating more
incentives to invest in alternatives to landfills, like recycling.
Seemingly out of nowhere, a recycling program has sprouted in Hawaii
Kai and Mililani, and the success of it could spread it to all parts of
the island. This would be the first curb side recycling pickup in the
history of Hawaii.