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Hi'iaka's Healing Herb Garden : Column Index : 2006 : July 2
Coming Soon...
TALKING TRASH: Kona Conference Opened Eyes and Renewed Hope
If you consider a full day of lectures and product demonstrations about garbage a fun experience, the "Talking Trash" Conference at the Mauna Lani Hotel on May 20 would have tickled your fancy. Sponsored by the Hawai`i Island Economic Development Board in partnership with Hawai`i County and the Environmental Protection Agency, this well-organized event included speakers from environmental agencies and businesses and displays of products relating to recycling, solid waste disposal, "green" investments, biodiesel, organic gardening and more. And the food was excellent!
The EPA is Taking Proactive Steps
Keynote speaker Timonie Hood of the Western Region EPA set the tone by stating "waste is inefficiency. She spoke about the tremendous amount of waste that is created through the demolition of buildings, which comprises a large percentage of the country's waste. Innovations are happening rapidly to reuse such waste and incorporate it into "bio-based" buildings, which can be 30% more efficient than conventional buildings, and cost less to build and operate. The problems we are experiencing with Hawaiian landfills becoming full are common across the United States, and giant steps are being taken to help solve the problems this can create. We are simply running out of space to dump increasingly larger amounts of rubbish. It was good to learn that many governmental agencies are actively working to develop and implement innovative solutions to the enormous amount of materials that were once simply thrown away.
Ms. Hood praised the Big Island for increasing our recycling volume from 20% to 70% in just the past year. She also spoke about new products that are being developed and marketed, such as "plastic" utensils made from corn, which will decompose in a home compost pile.
A National Recycling Pioneer
Eco-Cycle Inc. of Boulder, Colorado, is the largest non-governmental recycler in the U.S., and president Eric Lombardi told the gathering that his curbside recycling company is currently recycling 50,000 tons per year, with a plan of reaching 100,000 tons soon. "Being on the path to zero waste is our goal," Mr. Lombardi said, then added, "What we're talking about is business, and jobs... We need to stop building incinerators and landfills and build recycling facilities."
"Grass roots is the way to get this movement really going because the existing rules of the game are slanted against the zero waste industry. We must all demand change of our public officials. It's time for industry to come on board with us on this." Mr. Lombardi threw out an exciting statistic: 90% of all waste has a market. European countries are setting the bar, by initiating legislation that requires manufacturers to build things such as vehicles that can be disassembled and re-used when their usefulness ends. "Waste is the product of bad design," he added, and then concluded his talk by saying "this thing is coming fast."
Pacific Biodiesel Is Powering Parts of Hawai`i
Biodiesel is a quickly growing practice that substitutes used cooking oil (and other types of vegetable oil) for diesel fuel. Any diesel powered vehicle can be easily converted to biodiesel, which costs at least one dollar per gallon less than diesel. Bob King of Maui, president of Pacific Biodiesel, started his company in 1996, and already has built more small, community-based biodiesel plants than any other company, in places such as Japan, Oregon, Virginia and Honolulu. "A lot of America runs on diesel," Mr. King stated, and added that Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) on Oahu is using his biodiesel to run their fleet of vehicles, as are the City and County of Honolulu and Polynesian Adventure Tours. One of the things I like about biodiesel is what Mr. King pointed out: "The Middle East has no control over biodiesel." On Maui alone, he collects over 260,000 gallons of cooking oil a year, and on the Big Island, that number is 15,000 gallons, and rising. "We could provide all of Hawai`i's on-road diesel fuel. The Big Island makes sense for this because there is lots of land for production facilities." And such new business would generate more jobs.
Two of the Big Island's Own Praised Our Recycling Efforts
Barbara Bell, our county's Director of Environmental Management, spoke next and emphasized that "re-use is king for us." She also stressed that it is vitally important for government to work with businesses to reduce the amount of waste and to encourage and expand recycling and re-use efforts and programs. Her talk included lots of statistics about the meteoric success of Big Island recycling efforts, which have skyrocketed since their implementation in 2000.
Paul Buklarewicz, Director of Recycle Hawai`i, spoke next. "Our mission is to promote awareness and recycling on the Big Island," he explained. He then added that education about environmental resource management and recycling opportunities for a more sustainable future are top goals of their efforts. In just six years, the Big Island has gone from huge backlogs of scrap metal, green waste, and other recyclables, to working systems that have handled all of the backlog and subsequent new materials. In the same time period, thanks to EPA grants, community recycling centers are now operational at the Kea`au and Kealakehe transfer stations.
The future will hold exciting new developments and programs, such as derelict vehicle amnesty, mandatory recycling at all county facilities, requiring commercial trash haulers to provide recycling services, the growth of the biodiesel phenomenon, fines for illegal dumping, mandatory glass recycling for restaurants and bars, paper recycling for businesses that generate a lot of paper waste, such as Office Max, and so forth. For more information, visit www.recyclehawaii.org.
An Environmentally Friendly Hotel
The conference closed with a tour of Mauna Lani's facilities. They are dedicated to preserving the local environment and run the place with the help of many solar panels. Even their golf carts run on solar! They have the distinction of having the most solar electric generating capacity of any resort in the world and the tour showed what a model of environmental efficiency they are creating. AND they assured us that all of the food scraps from our delicious breakfast and lunch would be composted. Right on, Mauna Lani!
TALKING TRASH: Kona Conference Opened Eyes and Renewed Hope
If you consider a full day of lectures and product demonstrations about garbage a fun experience, the "Talking Trash" Conference at the Mauna Lani Hotel on May 20 would have tickled your fancy. Sponsored by the Hawai`i Island Economic Development Board in partnership with Hawai`i County and the Environmental Protection Agency, this well-organized event included speakers from environmental agencies and businesses and displays of products relating to recycling, solid waste disposal, "green" investments, biodiesel, organic gardening and more. And the food was excellent!
The EPA is Taking Proactive Steps
Keynote speaker Timonie Hood of the Western Region EPA set the tone by stating "waste is inefficiency. She spoke about the tremendous amount of waste that is created through the demolition of buildings, which comprises a large percentage of the country's waste. Innovations are happening rapidly to reuse such waste and incorporate it into "bio-based" buildings, which can be 30% more efficient than conventional buildings, and cost less to build and operate. The problems we are experiencing with Hawaiian landfills becoming full are common across the United States, and giant steps are being taken to help solve the problems this can create. We are simply running out of space to dump increasingly larger amounts of rubbish. It was good to learn that many governmental agencies are actively working to develop and implement innovative solutions to the enormous amount of materials that were once simply thrown away.
Ms. Hood praised the Big Island for increasing our recycling volume from 20% to 70% in just the past year. She also spoke about new products that are being developed and marketed, such as "plastic" utensils made from corn, which will decompose in a home compost pile.
A National Recycling Pioneer
Eco-Cycle Inc. of Boulder, Colorado, is the largest non-governmental recycler in the U.S., and president Eric Lombardi told the gathering that his curbside recycling company is currently recycling 50,000 tons per year, with a plan of reaching 100,000 tons soon. "Being on the path to zero waste is our goal," Mr. Lombardi said, then added, "What we're talking about is business, and jobs... We need to stop building incinerators and landfills and build recycling facilities."
"Grass roots is the way to get this movement really going because the existing rules of the game are slanted against the zero waste industry. We must all demand change of our public officials. It's time for industry to come on board with us on this." Mr. Lombardi threw out an exciting statistic: 90% of all waste has a market. European countries are setting the bar, by initiating legislation that requires manufacturers to build things such as vehicles that can be disassembled and re-used when their usefulness ends. "Waste is the product of bad design," he added, and then concluded his talk by saying "this thing is coming fast."
Pacific Biodiesel Is Powering Parts of Hawai`i
Biodiesel is a quickly growing practice that substitutes used cooking oil (and other types of vegetable oil) for diesel fuel. Any diesel powered vehicle can be easily converted to biodiesel, which costs at least one dollar per gallon less than diesel. Bob King of Maui, president of Pacific Biodiesel, started his company in 1996, and already has built more small, community-based biodiesel plants than any other company, in places such as Japan, Oregon, Virginia and Honolulu. "A lot of America runs on diesel," Mr. King stated, and added that Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) on Oahu is using his biodiesel to run their fleet of vehicles, as are the City and County of Honolulu and Polynesian Adventure Tours. One of the things I like about biodiesel is what Mr. King pointed out: "The Middle East has no control over biodiesel." On Maui alone, he collects over 260,000 gallons of cooking oil a year, and on the Big Island, that number is 15,000 gallons, and rising. "We could provide all of Hawai`i's on-road diesel fuel. The Big Island makes sense for this because there is lots of land for production facilities." And such new business would generate more jobs.
Two of the Big Island's Own Praised Our Recycling Efforts
Barbara Bell, our county's Director of Environmental Management, spoke next and emphasized that "re-use is king for us." She also stressed that it is vitally important for government to work with businesses to reduce the amount of waste and to encourage and expand recycling and re-use efforts and programs. Her talk included lots of statistics about the meteoric success of Big Island recycling efforts, which have skyrocketed since their implementation in 2000.
Paul Buklarewicz, Director of Recycle Hawai`i, spoke next. "Our mission is to promote awareness and recycling on the Big Island," he explained. He then added that education about environmental resource management and recycling opportunities for a more sustainable future are top goals of their efforts. In just six years, the Big Island has gone from huge backlogs of scrap metal, green waste, and other recyclables, to working systems that have handled all of the backlog and subsequent new materials. In the same time period, thanks to EPA grants, community recycling centers are now operational at the Kea`au and Kealakehe transfer stations.
The future will hold exciting new developments and programs, such as derelict vehicle amnesty, mandatory recycling at all county facilities, requiring commercial trash haulers to provide recycling services, the growth of the biodiesel phenomenon, fines for illegal dumping, mandatory glass recycling for restaurants and bars, paper recycling for businesses that generate a lot of paper waste, such as Office Max, and so forth. For more information, visit www.recyclehawaii.org.
An Environmentally Friendly Hotel
The conference closed with a tour of Mauna Lani's facilities. They are dedicated to preserving the local environment and run the place with the help of many solar panels. Even their golf carts run on solar! They have the distinction of having the most solar electric generating capacity of any resort in the world and the tour showed what a model of environmental efficiency they are creating. AND they assured us that all of the food scraps from our delicious breakfast and lunch would be composted. Right on, Mauna Lani!
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