Coupon books a waste
I was fascinated by an article by Max Dible of WHT about drinking straws.
I am a very careful recycler but, I must admit, I never gave straws a lot of consideration.
I just finished a book “Garbology” by Edward Humes, which was a real eye-opener, but it made clear what we do as consumers has incredible effect on marketing.
One of the biggest polluters in Hawaii is KTA and their ridiculous coupon books. The time and money spent printing them, mailing them, postal people handling them, customers spending time trying to find a particular coupon, cutting them out, clerks handling them, and sorting them for storage and then having 95 percent of the book ending up as garbage is without a doubt one of the more damaging practices on this island.
All they need to do, if they want to advertise a special item, is list it in the newspaper, or tag it in the store and have it happen at checkout automatically. Costco and Foodland do this effectively. KTA could save a bundle of money by eliminating those books. The customer benefits, KTA benefits and we reduce our incredible amount of garbage.
If you happen to see reasonable logic in my plea, please mention your concern to KTA management.
J. M. Lifschiz
Kohala
Bad soil a concern that needs planning
The concept of several hundred truckloads of arsenic-contaminated soil to the Kona landfill should raise the concern of whether or not there is a hazmat safety management plan in place with equipment and personnel ready to respond if there is a spill.
Hopefully, it will be hauled in closed containers rather than open dump trucks. That matter also applies to the daily hauling of Hilo trash to Puuanahulu. Imagine an overturned truck with a breached container. A properly prepared response may not be cheap but should be on the top of the county administration priority list. It would include runaway-truck ramps for the downhill parts of the journey, loaders for scooping up the debris, sealable containers in which to put the spilled material, temporary fences to contain blowing trash components, safety clothing with respirators, and trained personnel to handle all that.
I know that Councilwoman Karen Eoff has expressed concern and made inquiries to county management officials but I am unaware of any response. One must hope that county management has not been negligent in this regard and has an adequate response plan in place, although the truck ramps need to be built.
This is not a time to be waiting for an event to begin the usual management-by-crisis action that always is plagued with higher costs and inefficiency, and often results in an unsatisfactory resolution requiring additional costly action. Good planning can keep an inevitable bad situation from becoming a catastrophe.
Mike Reimer
Kailua-Kona