Recyclables pickup available
Here is what I do about recycling: I pay $25 a month for a recycling service to come to my house and pick up our sorted recyclables. By the end of the month, there is a whole lot to pick up, and we don’t have that many people living in our house.
Kaua‘i has a decades-old, chronic problem with both infrastructure and waste disposal. Brown water is a synonym for sewage in the water. The “landfill” in Kekaha is basically a huge mountain with dirt thrown on top of the garbage. There are solutions to these problems, but they have not been addressed sufficiently.
The big-box stores have an impact on the waste stream because of increased packaging, especially plastic. Banning plastic bags at check-out is a small step, basically tokenism.
This is a small island! But it is treated like a big place with lots of room for wastestream mistakes.
Call Chris, who owns the recycling service at 353-1852.
Molly Jones, Kealia
Road between Costco and The Home Depot is horrendous
Shame on Costco!
The island deserves to have safe roads to access your business, and the road that runs between Costco and The Home Depot is a disgrace.
That pothole has been there for over a year, and gets worse by the day.
I spoke to a manager at Costco over a month ago and was told “we are having a difficult time finding a contractor to do the work.”
So, if you damage your vehicle trying to avoid this giant hole, make sure you contact Costco to pay for damages. Many near-accidents happen on this road as well, as there is no longer any striping. Please, Costco, take care of your place of business so the community will be safe on your roads.
Cushla Tucker, Koloa
Agree whole-heartedly with Cushla Tucker, That access road between HD and Costco is an accident waiting to happen! But is that road Costco’s responsibility, or Home Depot’s or both or is that a County Road for which the County is responsible? Please advise who s responsible and let us all get in their ear.
In terms of recycling, let’s all talk to Costco about their one-use plastic packaging, especially all that plastic around eggs and apples. The plastic recycling bins indicate not to throw in plastic containers like those, so it all goes to Mount Kekaha. And does Chris the recycle guy take all kinds of plastic or does most of it still end up in the trash?
And, ah, what does “Chris” do with all the collected, sorted, recyclables ? Transfer station trash or back in to recycling?
We are in the middle of the Pacific. It is more “cost effective” not to recycle. If it costs more to recycle, than to put the item in the trash, then why are we recycling?? Try this question on the next election ballot: “Would you be willing to pay $25/month/family to have curbside pick-up of your recyclables? It will be a mandatory charge per household, per month.”
Of all the places on the planet, Hawaii should, by now, have a “trash to energy” program on one of the islands. It is one of the current, and ongoing, greatest failures of our so-called elected politicians in Hawaii. We have enough managers in Hawaii doing the same old, same old. How about a real leader with the requisite experience, education, and credentials? Gee, he or she may never have lived here for an extended amount of time.
Nope, let’s keep electing “born and raised”…..because, you know, they understand island issues, the people, and the problems. Only “born and raised” can magically figure this out. SMH.