LIHU‘E — As the County of Kauai‘s only landfill approaches maximum capacity, plans for a solution are still uncertain.
In a Kaua‘i County Council meeting on Feb. 16, council members listened to a presentation from Allison Fraley, a county environmental services manager, and Troy Tanigawa, a county engineer with the Department of Public Works.
As Fraley explained in their presentation, the Kekaha Landfill is expected to reach its maximum capacity in October 2026. The Department of Public Works is considering many options in order to continue managing the island’s waste, including the construction of a new landfill.
“The new landfill construction will take about 10 years,” Fraley said. “So we will have a gap in services when that landfill closes … so we’ve been working on options to fill that gap.”
A main priority is vertically expanding the landfill, which would buy them a couple more years to consider other options. Since the Kekaha Landfill is located about 3.5 miles from the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands (PMRF), it was previously unclear if the vertical expansion would be feasible, as federal law limits the construction of municipal solid waste landfills within 6 miles of certain smaller public airports.
However, Fraley said PMRF has given clearance for the height increase, allowing them to proceed with plans.
The Kekaha Landfill is currently about 120 feet above sea level. A vertical expansion would bring the new site to 171 feet above sea level, allowing for its continued use for about three additional years (through April 2030).
The place for a potential new landfill site has not yet been solidified, but Fraley told council members that they have identified a property owned by the state Agribusiness Development Corporation (ADC), a state agency tied to the state Department of Agriculture.
Fraley said that 130 acres of the 175-acre property could be used for a new landfill. She said the department is currently drafting a right of entry document so it can then get a consultant to do a site evaluation.
“That would be preliminary engineering on the site to really determine the feasibility,” Fraley said.
Previously, the Department of Public Works had identified a property off Ma‘alo Road near Hanama‘ulu, but Fraley explained it was no longer a viable option.
“The county spent time and money to pursue that site for many years,” she said.
Fraley said the county put forth proposals to discuss wildlife management and other mitigations of that area, but they were deemed “insufficient and unpersuasive” by the landowners.
Fraley also detailed potential alternatives to a new landfill site. That included a lateral expansion at the Kekaha Landfill, which would add between 25 to 30 years of useful life, and studying diversion/conversion technologies to manage waste (including implementing curbside recycling and a facility for construction and demolition debris).
Another option would be to ship waste off-island through the Honolulu Program of Waste Energy Recovery (H-POWER). However, she noted that these other options could pose some challenges, both logistically and financially.
Fraley said an overliner lateral expansion would take about three years and cost about $12.5 million. Still, it would come with the added long-term risk of environmental exposure to hazardous waste.
“However, we are already exposed because we have an unlined landfill,” she said.
Fraley estimated that another option, shipping the waste off-island, would cost about $30 million per year. Council Chair Mel Rapozo said he estimated the process would cost $52.5 million per year, and said neither cost was feasible for the county.
“We are in a crisis right now,” said Rapozo. “I don’t know what we’re gonna do. I worry about this every single day.”
Council members were appreciative of Fraley and Tanigawa’s presentation, and all expressed concern that not enough has been done to remedy the issue.
Council Member Bill DeCosta said politicians were responsible for the problem, and blamed previous politicians who didn’t prioritize the landfill. The nearly two-hour meeting on the topic ended with DeCosta declaring that they needed to make a decision.
“Here’s my trigger pull. We gotta burn trash,” he said. “The technology today provides clean air to burn trash. Why aren’t we doing this?”
He added, “Let’s get the mayor’s office and let’s go rally some funds.”
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Emma Grunwald, reporter, can be reached at 808-652-0638 or egrunwald@thegardenisland.com.
