LIHU‘E — The Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center’s team leader David Chung was concerned when the gates to the ARC monthly donation event opened, Friday morning at the Kaua‘i Resource Center off Ahukini Road.
“Traffic was pretty sparse,” Chung said, noticing the neighboring Lihu‘e Refuse Transfer Station was closed for the Admission Day holiday. “Where are the people?”
The picture quickly changed a little ways into the hot, sunny day as a steady stream of contributors overtook the amount of contributors processed from the ARC team’s previous collection visit just two weeks prior.
“We shipped out one container, Thursday,” Chung said. “It’s not even lunch, yet and the second container is nearly full. It was difficult to order containers since our last trip was just two weeks ago. But, I guess we’ll end up with two containers for this trip with some overflow that’ll go to our next visit. Right now, we’re over 136 cars passing through.”
Shantelle Rego, coming in on the holiday to check on Chung and the ARC crew, said the items being shipped to O‘ahu benefit the ARC program, meaning those items won’t end up in Kaua‘i’s landfill. One container is estimated to hold about 7,000 pounds of material.
Chung said the next ARC team visit to Kaua‘i will be on Sept. 23 when residents, businesses and other groups can bring in unwanted or unneeded items for reuse. The drop off hours are from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., and due to safety concerns from the heavy equipment in the area and minimize the risk of injuries to contributors, the ARC team will do the heavy lifting of unloading vehicles.
“This collection date should be a busy one,” Chung said. “It’s more than a month out. It is also the last collection until the November trip when we come back on Nov. 11, Veterans Day. There are no scheduled visits for October.”
The ARC also offers pick up services to thrift stores and businesses, and should call 808-241-4336 to schedule new service.
Individuals who would like home pick up service should contact the Habitat for Humanity ReStore at 808-335-6105, or RP’s Random Closet at 808-346-0020.
For general information about general recycling, or reuse can call 808-241-4841, or visit www.kauai.gov/recycling, or www.kauai.gov/reuse.
