RECYCLING IN SOUTH MAUI – PUBLIC VS. PRIVATE

Pete & Jenny Sullivan and Lloyd Norquist, Jenny Sullivan

1/17/20 #kihei
As we have a strong environmental facet in our vision and mission, truly effective recycling is always encouraged. In 2019 we devoted a complete general membership meeting to recycling by the County government, SEE https://gokihei.org/meeting-recap/kca-bi-monthly-meeting-report-recycling-in-south-maui.

But what about recycling and reusing in the private sector? There is a private entity (MRS) doing curbside residential; Pacific Biodiesel has recycled restaurant cooking grease for years; greenwaste is handled by Kihei Compost; but here we are looking at Hawaii Materials Recycling (HMR) located right in central Kihei.

We last reported on them as they commenced and then achieved the permits to establish their facility; SEE https://gokihei.org/environment/our-design-review-committee-drc-receives-new-development-info

From early 2016 HMR communicated with us as they proceeded. Since it opened we have heard 0 complaints about the project; trust us, that is very rare. But no, no noise issues, no drainage issues, no dust issues. What we do see is many tons of “construction debris” diverted from the County land fill and transformed into building materials. So a win-win. Not only is this slowing the filling of the county land fill and the need to use more land for another one, it reduces the need to mine more resources for new construction.

So the same truck that brings in the so called waste – which can really be a resource – and drops it off, can now pick up recycled material for construction immediately at the same location. Ask anyone in transpiration about the costs of empty miles: $$. Single trip for the truck means less time on our very limited roads – reduces traffic.

There is practically no residue. Just about everything that is brought in is later trucked away.

But this is for major construction, right? While it is for major jobs whether demolishing or building new, there is more to it. In a recent visit, yes, we observed the huge dump trucks, but we also saw two guys in a pick-up loading rocks that probably would soon be a rock wall. So even a homeowner doing a major renovation can participate in reduce, reuse and recycling building materials.

When our all volunteer team reviews a project, we try our best to see how it turned out afterward. In this case, looks good.

Find out more about HMR here:

1. https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/post/maui-efforts-creating-replicable-ways-recycle-and-reduce-waste
2. https://www.hawaiimaterialsrecycling.com/how-to-recycle