Follow that trash

While bottles and paper take global trips, recycled green waste stays close to home

Much of the recyclable trash collected by the city heads off for journeys to the mainland or Asia and returns as newspaper, wrapping paper, molded packaging, cardboard, aluminum cans and brown paper bags.

But green waste accounts for most of the collections -- double the weight of all the bottles, papers, cans and cardboard in those big bins. It is the kind of recyclable the city likes: It stays on island, is processed and comes back as mulch or compost.

The city is poised to extend curbside recycling across the island after trials in Hawaii Kai and Mililani. "Every material we collect has a different story, and it's a very interesting story," said Suzanne Jones, city recycling coordinator.

 SUSAN ESSOYAN

By Susan Essoyan
sessoyan@starbulletin.com

That plastic water bottle tossed in the recycling bin could become new carpeting. The beer bottle next to it might be ground into gravel for construction. And yesterday's newspaper could see new life as an egg carton. With the city poised to extend curbside recycling across the island, some residents are wondering what happens to the stuff they put out on the curb -- from yard clippings to empty milk jugs. "Every material we collect has a different story, and it's a very interesting story," said Suzanne Jones, the recycling coordinator for the city, which will offer curbside recycling to 37 percent of Oahu households by the end of the year.

After a successful trial run in Hawaii Kai and Mililani, curbside recycling will spread to these neighborhoods in November: Kuliouou to Manoa; Kapahulu; Kailua to Lanikai; and the North Shore. New areas will be added every six months until the entire island is covered by May 2010.

Many of the products that are collected have long journeys ahead of them, across thousands of miles of ocean. But the weightiest component of the household recycling stream, yard waste, stays on the island. Hawaiian Earth Products processes it and gives it back to residents as mulch, available free, or as compost sold under the name Menehune MAGIC.  "We have tonnage-wise probably twice the amount of green waste as all the bottles, cans, newspaper and cardboard," Jones said. "We can make the greatest impact in reducing our island's waste through separating out our green waste." 

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM Recyclable material is sorted by workers at RRR Recycling Services Hawaii. Supervisor Harry Kupihea dumps out a trash bag that was thrown into a curbside container. Kupihea said that the workers find approximately 1 percent of contaminants, or nonrecyclable material, in the loads. Diapers are a common item found.

CINDY ELLEN RUSSELL / CRUSSELL@STARBULLETIN.COM RRR Recycling Services Hawaii's Bobby Henriques holds a handful of pulverized glass. The glass is pulverized and used for road construction or landscaping material.

Shipping costs could also affect the future of the island's used glass. No one locally is willing to pay for crushed glass, so recycling companies make it available free as a replacement for aggregate in construction or agriculture. But demand is uneven.  "It totally fluctuates," said Dominic Henriques, owner of RRR Recycling Services Hawaii, which has the curbside recycling contract with the city. "If one of the companies has a project and they call us, we'll run it for them. But if no one's calling, we'll send it to the mainland. There's no value for it because of the shipping costs."

The state Department of Health is considering raising the handling fee on glass containers to help pay for shipping to encourage recyclers to send the glass to California to be melted down and made into new products, rather than simply being crushed and reused here. "The policy is still being discussed," said Karl Motoyama, coordinator of the state Office of Solid Waste Management. "We're trying to encourage more re-manufacturing. This is a higher end use; you end up with a new product from the recycled material." In any case, Hawaii's recycling companies are looking forward to big infusions of recyclables later this year and on through May 2010.

WHAT GOES WHERE » Green bins: Green waste includes grass, tree and hedge trimmings » Blue bins: Mixed recyclables include newspaper, corrugated cardboard, glass bottles and jars, aluminum cans and plastic bottles, coded No. 1 and No. 2. Note: Households do not generate enough office paper to make curbside collection worthwhile. Office paper should be dropped in school/community recycling bins, in boxes or brown paper bags. No staples, clips, envelopes, sticky labels or glossy paper. » Gray bins: Garbage, including plastic bags, Styrofoam, junk mail, magazines, cereal boxes and other chipboard, food cans, and plastic containers other than those coded No. 1 or No. 2. Note: Metal food cans are automatically removed at HPOWER to be recycled. Lower-value papers and plastics are not worth the cost of shipping to distant markets. The city says they benefit the island more by being burned at HPOWER to produce electricity.   WHAT HAPPENS NEXT » Newspapers: Sent to mills, largely in Asia, to be processed into more newspaper, wrapping paper and molded packaging » Corrugated cardboard: Sent to Asia to be pulped and remade into more cardboard and brown paper bags » Yard waste: Stays on the island and is turned into mulch and compost for use in local landscaping » Aluminum cans: Sent to the mainland to be melted into new aluminum cans and other products, including steel » Glass bottles: Some stays on the island and is crushed for use in construction as back fill or road base. The rest heads to the West Coast to be melted into new glass products. » Plastics: Sent to the mainland or Asia to be re-manufactured into carpeting, plastic lumber, toys, fiberfill, detergent bottles   Sources: City and County of Honolulu, Honolulu Recovery Systems, RRR Recycling Services Hawaii