County Council postpones recycling incentive action

A measure to encourage island residents to recycle more cardboard, glass, plastic and metal was postponed Tuesday afternoon after gaining some favorable testimony.

The Hawaii County Council’s Environmental Management Committee first amended, then postponed until the committee’s April 3 meeting, a resolution asking Mayor Billy Kenoi for a pilot program to reward individual residents or nonprofit organizations for turning in those recyclable materials instead of throwing them away. The county could spend less on its two-bin recycling program, which has containers available at transfer stations for those materials, and use the money not spent for that program to pay people 5 cents a pound for those materials.

Council Chairman Dominic Yagong’s initial program called for ending the two-bin recycling program June 30. Several council members and at least one recycling business owner suggested running the pilot program and the existing recycling program simultaneously. Council members also said the proposed one-year pilot program might not be long enough to see how well the program worked.

The county would pay $100 per ton for the recyclable items that do not have HI-5 deposits on them. Yagong said the county now pays $145 a ton for recyclable materials. Other people testifying Tuesday at the West Hawaii Civic Center said the actual figure was as high as $230 a ton.

Yagong agreed to the changes, introducing both in an amendment. Committee members approved the amendment.

Mike Allen, owner of Atlas Recycling, said he supported the program and Yagong’s amendments.

“The largest percentage of the population don’t recycle because there’s no reward,” Allen said. “It costs money to drive to the transfer station to recycle. Let’s make it convenient for the people. Let’s give them a financial reward. The No. 1 reason people recycle? Financial reward.”

Ka‘u Councilwoman Brittany Smart said many people in her district burn their rubbish, rather than driving to a transfer station. Under the proposed pilot program, doing so would be like burning money, she said.

Hilo Councilman Donald Ikeda described himself as a big recycler, adding that he doesn’t do it for any financial gain.

“I throw everything in the bins,” he said. “I don’t get anything, and I don’t feel bad about it.”

He was worried about the program being too successful and running out of money to pay people for their recyclable products. Yagong said that would be a good problem to have, because it would mean so much less waste was headed to the county’s landfills.

Yagong said he envisions a program in which nonprofits, including schools and churches, can be drop-off sites for recyclable materials. Those nonprofit organizations may then take the materials to a recycler and get the 5-cent per pound fee the county will pay to divert the items from the landfill. Having more places to drop off recyclables will make it more convenient, Yagong said.

South Kona Councilwoman Brenda Ford said she wanted residents to understand that the money, in that case, would not be returned to the person who dropped off the items.

“If I take all my recycling to the church, I’m making a donation to the church,” Ford said.

The Governmental Relations Committee postponed any action on a proposal to create a charter amendment requiring the county’s corporation counsel be an elected position. Yagong, who introduced the measure, requested the postponement after other council members raised questions about the proposal.

“It’s a good idea to put it to the island voters,” Hilo Councilman J Yoshimoto said. “A couple of concerns — you wanted the term to be the same with the mayor and the prosecutor. It might be a good idea to stagger that.”

He also asked whether it would make more sense to give corporation counsel a six-year term, to cut down on how frequently the person elected to that position would have to campaign.

Yagong said he selected a four-year term because the county’s prosecuting attorney also serves four-year terms.