Last month (on my birthday!) I signed up for a free day-long “Tour de Trash” on Oahu. This tour was probably the best thing I could have done to learn about how trash is managed in Hawaii. It’s a very interesting and complex process and one that should be taken seriously. The fact that these tours are offered (for free) is a great step toward educating people about where their trash goes and encourages people to abide by the “THREE R’s”:
REDUCE
RE-USE
RECYCLE
….in that order!
On this tour we visited the Waimanalo Gulch Landfill…
The RRR Recycling Services…
Schnitzer Steel Hawaii…
The H-Power Waste-to-Energy Plant….
and Hawaiian Earth Products composting center…
To sum up the order of how things are processed from when they enter the bin to how they are managed is as follows:
1. Waste is placed in three different bins – Brown bins for trash, Blue bins for recyclables (in Hawaii that’s plastics 1 and 2 and corrugated cardboard), and Green bins for Yard Waste
2. Waste is picked up curbside by county trucks or personally taken to drop-off facilities.
3. Recyclables are taken to RRR Recycling Services where they are sorted and sent for processing. Some recyclables are sent to the mainland U.S. for processing, others are sent as far as China.
4. Yard Waste is sent to Hawaiian Earth Products to be composted into soil and mulch (which is free to those willing to come pick it up!).
5. Trash (non-recylables and non-compostables) are sent to facilities where contents are sifted through to take out any metals to be sold and recycled (Schnitzer Steel Hawaii), burned by H-Power to create energy, and/or (as a last resort) buried in the Waimanalo Gulch landfill near Kapolei.
Obviously the best way to avoid all of the nastiness that comes with handling and managing trash is to REDUCE your level of waste. The next best way is to become educated on how you can help to manage the waste that you do generate in order to help us become a more sustainable Hawaii.
If you are interested in learning more about waste management in Hawaii or taking a free Tour de Trash visit Opala.org.
Related articles
- Working Together for a Zero Waste Future in Hawaii (civilbeat.com)
- Guide to Recycling for Schools – How to Initiate And Implement a Waste Reduction Program (recyclereminders.com)
Sustainability Studies 