Weigh in Now on Kauaʻi’s 10-Year Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan

A critical conversation around the future of waste management on Kauaʻi is happening and it requires your input!

Kauaʻi County is currently adopting a new Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan (ISWMP) that will be implemented over the next 10 years and strong public input is urgently needed from you and your family.

Public feedback and written comments must be submitted by email to solidwaste@kauai.gov before 4 PM Monday, July 19, 2021.

WHY SUPPORT?

Waste management practices on Kauaʻi lag behind other national and international best practices and our community desperately needs roadside pick-up for recycling.

The Kekaha landfill is well over capacity and we are already past due on a new one. Under existing approvals, we have less than 7 years before the EPA issues a cease and desist and stops use altogether. A new landfill could take over 10 years to build.

The 2011 plan set out specific goals and objectives but they were never achieved due to a lack of funding and political will. This needs to change!

We desperately need a comprehensive, well thought-out plan for waste disposal (i.e. diversion - such as repurposing construction waste) backed by adequate funds. 

We must develop working systems that divert waste from the landfill so our next one does not fill up quickly. Waste diversion minimizes solid waste through source reduction, recycling, reuse, or composting.

Your voice is needed to insist that our waste management is made a priority! Please speak up about Kauaʻi’s Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan.  We can and must do better to care for our fragile ecosystems on our small island home. 

ASK THAT THE ISWMP PRIORITIZES THE FOLLOWING:

1) Ensuring a county wide curbside recycling pick-up service and a Materials Recycling Facility (MRF) to help make recycling easy & convenient!

Curbside service is where recyclables are collected by the county from your residence in a dedicated can which is transported to and sorted at the Materials Recycling Facility (MRF).

A MRF is the only way to manage curbside recycling. An approved site and environmental review for the MRF has already been completed, so let’s get it up and going!

At least 250 tons of trash per day on Kauaʻi is sent to the Kekaha Landfill. Around 30% of the landfilled waste is recyclable material.

Establishing a curbside recycling pick-up service and a MRF is the most important step towards improving our waste management.  

2) An increased goal of 80% diversion rate by 2030

In 2011, the County Council set forth a goal of achieving a 70% diversion rate by 2023. Ten years later, we are only at 43%. Many cities have quickly achieved an 80% diversion rate. For Kauaʻi, an 80% diversion rate by 2030 therefore seems an appropriate update of the County Council’s bold 2011 goal.

3) Properly funding and staffing the Solid Waste Division of Public Works with qualified employees dedicated to waste diversion efforts

This funding could be responsibly diverted from the $240 million County budget to restore three engineer/management positions within the Solid Waste Division of the Public Works Department with qualified engineers committed to advancing waste diversion on Kauaʻi.

4) Composting

Food waste makes up 10% of Kauaʻi’s landfill waste. If properly collected and managed, it can be a valuable resource as compost instead of a source of methane gas in our landfill.

5) Sorting out construction waste and actively diverting materials from the landfill

Reusing construction and demolition waste needs to be expanded through gradual material bans, encouraging the building of capacity to receive and reuse construction and demolition waste. The County should also require deconstruction waste plans as a condition of permits.

6) A set of clear goals and strategies to meet them within 7 years

Without a strategy for success, there is nothing to aim for nor anything by which measures progress. 

Please submit written comments supporting the above points via e-mail to solidwaste@kauai.gov before 4 PM on Monday, July 19, 2021. 

You may also CC Mayor Kawakami (mayor@kauai.gov) and the Kauaʻi County Council (counciltestimony@kauai.gov) and ask them to support these measures.

Let them know that you and your family support a strong Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan, curbside recycling, a MRF, and responsible development of a new landfill alongside robust waste diversion tactics. Encourage them to show up for the future by properly dealing with our solid waste today. 

Note: You can find support for all of the talking points here on page 163, section 13 of the proposed waste management plan:

https://www.kauai.gov/Portals/0/PW_SolidWaste/ISWMP_DOCUMENTS/KauaiCo_ISWMP_Update_Draft4.pdf