WAIMEA — New deals and treasures were on display at Waimea Recycling &Transfer Station’s Reuse Center thrift store Thursday, its first day open under new management.
The facility is one of seven on the island that Transfer Station Thrift Store, LLC now operates. The annual contract went up for bids in February. Transfer Station Thrift Store and Recycle Hawaii — the original contractor — were the only two companies that submitted applications.
The new contract was awarded April 2 and began May 1. New donations were accepted at Waimea Recycling &Transfer Station beginning May 1.
“The space was cleared out last month with a clean slate for us to start from,” Elizabeth Rollins said, Transfer Station Thrift Store’s owner. “I wanted to make the thrift store nicer so people enjoy shopping there. It’s open daily now with expanded hours.”
Other county reuse stores now under Transfer Station Thrift Store’s management are located at the Kealakehe, Keauhou, Waiohinu, Keaau, Pahoa and Hilo reuse centers. The Waiohinu thrift store was the first location Transfer Station Thrift Store took over, beginning last summer.
“I really care about our environment, and when I moved here 16 years ago I was shocked there were no ways to recycle,” Rollins said. “I’m excited the county has a zero waste initiative for this now and I can be a part of it.”
Everything donated goes on the floor, and the reuse thrift stores are also accepting employment applications.
Rollins purchased Transfer Station Thrift Store, LLC eight months ago, and also owns and operates two independent thrift stores: 4Good Thrift in Kona and 4Good Fashion boutique in Kainaliu.
“We’ve gone from zero to nine is less than three years,” she said.
County of Hawaii Department of Environmental Management Solid Waste Division &Recycling Section oversees the transit stations, including the thrift stores.
“Opening six stores at once is a big job,” County Recycling Coordinator George Hayducsko said. “The intent is to divert usable materials from the landfill. The reuse centers work on a one-year contract but with four one-year extensions. If everything works out we can extend it one year at a time.”
Growing up in San Francisco’s East Bay area, Rollins said she lived among a mix of wealthy and poor residents.
“I always wanted to look nice and was empowered by my sense of style to never wear poverty on my sleeve,” she remembered. “Everyone has the opportunity to have good style if they know how to thrift. I wanted to give that to other people as well.”
Rollins’ thrift stores receive a variety of donations daily.
“Among the most interesting donations we’ve ever received were World War II memorabilia and a Himalayan sea salt lamp I wanted to buy,” she said. “Recently another resident donated 16 bags of designer clothing. I almost cried. Some items were worth $3,000 used. We sold them at affordable prices.”
Clothing is most commonly donated.
“Eighty-five percent of the clothes people own end up in landfills. It’s the largest contributor to our island trash,” Rollins said, who lists ways to reuse different parts of an old sweater on Transfer Station Thrift Store’s Facebook page.
Around 60 percent of the thrift store shoppers are women and 40 percent men.
“We price to move,” Rollins said, who lived in Waimea 10 years and now resides in Kona. “The inventory moves so fast it’s most often sold in a day.”
She continued, “My dream is that we will find a way through this contract to one day bring a manufacturing plant to our island that can recycle items into new clothing, pillows or other products, upcycling our trash.”
Waimea Recycling &Transfer Station’s Reuse Center thrift store is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. For updates on all Transfer Station Thrift Store locations, go to www.facebook.com/Transfer-Station-Thrift-Store-139630513295227/
