LIHU‘E — County officials told Kaua‘i County Council members the administration is fast tracking a process to open a materials recovery facility at the former papaya disinfestation facility in Ahukini near Lihu‘e Airport. If all goes well, it would take
LIHU‘E — County officials told Kaua‘i County Council members the administration is fast tracking a process to open a materials recovery facility at the former papaya disinfestation facility in Ahukini near Lihu‘e Airport. If all goes well, it would take at least three years for it to be up and running.
“The MRF is critical to us to develop a strong residential recycling program,” county Solid Waste Program coordinator Allison Fraley said Tuesday during a budgetary review meeting at the council chambers.
She said the administration has been working hard to “fast track” the MRF and have it in operation in three to four years.
Right now, the administration has drafted an interim memorandum of agreement and is working with the landowner to get approval to use the site, and “hopefully” have a long term lease or transfer it to the county through executive order, Fraley said.
Currently, the administration is getting ready to work on a conceptual design and on an environmental assessment, she said.
In this upcoming fiscal year, there is a request to fund engineering design and equipment specification, according to Fraley.
In FY 2015, there will be a need to fund actual construction and equipment installation. In FY 2016, construction of the MRF would be completed and the county would execute a contract for private management, she said.
Councilman Mel Rapozo said he believes Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura’s persistence “had something to do” with the administration’s expediting a relocation of the MRF by the airport.
“She pushed this administration into getting it done sooner,” he said.
AECOM private consultant is currently doing a feasibility study on siting the island’s next landfill, and part of the study includes siting the MRF on a nearby Resource Recovery Park. The landfill will likely be at Ma‘alo, near Hanama‘ulu, which is a central location but is somewhat far from Nawiliwili Harbor, where processed recyclables would be shipped away.
According to County Engineer Larry Dill, this MRF location at Ahukini would be temporary, but could become permanent.
Fraley said the MRF in Ahukini would have mostly manual separation of recyclables. But there is a potential for the site to become permanent and expand to accommodate mechanical separation, as recycling efforts islandwide step up.
“When you mentioned that slide I looked at Councilwoman Yukimura’s face, she was smiling; I haven’t seen her smile like that in long time,” Rapozo told Fraley, causing many county officials present at the meeting to laugh.
Despite being “happy” (“But not happy enough,” according to Rapozo) with the news of MRF being expedited, Yukimura had concerns with the contract with AECOM, which cost at least $1.8 million ($2.24 million, according to Council Chair Jay Furfaro), and is not asking the questions that need to be asked.
“How much money are we spending on figuring out a feasibility of a resource recovery center that might not happen?” Yukimura said of the AECOM study on the MRF that would be located at the RRP near Ma‘alo.
Dill said then feasibility study has many pieces, and he had no immediate answer for that.
There is a need to “agree on disagreeing,” Dill said, but he concurred with Yukimura that it’s the administration’s responsibility to come up with the most cost-effective facility.
Expediting recycling
Fraley said the county recycling programs divert 26,000 tons of solid waste annually. Private sector programs divert an additional 21,000 tons, adding to 47,000 tons of solid waste being diverted from the landfill annually.
Current recycling programs divert a total of 40 percent of the solid waste generated on Kaua‘i. But Kekaha Landfill still receives 71,000 tons of solid waste each year.
A few other programs being implemented by the administration would add to and expedite recycling, according to Fraley.
About half of the island’s residential trash collection is being serviced by automated collection. The county plans to have the entire island being serviced by automated collection by June 2015, she said. Curbside recycling, once offered, would resume July 2014.
Before the end of this year, the county will start a ban on concrete, asphalt and pallets in Kekaha Landfill. Business recycling will also start this year.
Still in 2013, the county plans to implement a Pay As You Throw program, adding 64-gallon trash bins to automated collection. If customers decide to downsize, they would keep paying current fees. But if they keep their current 96-gallon bins, their fees would increase. Phase 2 of PAYT, starting July 2014, would introduce 32-gallon bins.
Commercial food waste collection would start January 2015, and be fully implemented by June 2016. Residential food waste collection would start January 2016.
• Léo Azambuja, staff writer, can be reached at 245-0452 or lazambuja@ thegardenisland.com.
