September 15, 2008
Isle recycler hits its glass ceiling
Effort to deal with Oahu issue leads to less green effect here
KAHULUI - A move by the state Department of Health to deal with Oahu companies that are supposed to recycle glass containers but weren't has turned into an incentive for Maui's only glass recycler to recycle less.
Aloha Glass Recycling last week stopped taking certain types of glass that it had been crushing along with glass beverage containers that it redeemed under the state HI-5 redemption program.
Aloha President Tom Reed said the company will put its glass-crushing equipment into storage.
He said he initially objected to the Health Department's decision, but the result will be that Aloha Glass will generate more revenues in its glass recycling operation and will have more room on its Kahului lot to handle other kinds of recyclable materials.
At the same time, Aloha Glass will stop taking window glass, crockery and other kinds of specialized glass products since it will no longer be crushing the material.
"We are very concerned about the public perception," Reed said.
He emphasized that Aloha Glass will continue to accept wine bottles and glass food containers, such as pickle jars and jelly jars. But the workers will turn away glass that can't be shipped out - which will mean that householders will have to dispose of it in the Central Maui Landfill, and contractors will have to use the construction landfill in Maalaea.
Carl Motoyama, solid waste management coordinator with the HI-5 program, said he wasn't aware of the effects of the changes in the glass-handling program on Maui but said it was necessary to a deal with a problem on Oahu.
The change involves the Department of Health reimbursement to businesses that are redeeming HI-5 glass containers. On Oahu, the program was paying 2 cents for each container redeemed, while Neighbor Island redemption operators were reimbursed 3 cents a container because the state understood that the businesses would have to ship the containers to Oahu.
When HI-5 program officials investigated complaints that redeemable containers were going into landfills, they discovered that redemption operators on Oahu were not recycling the glass they took in.
"We were discovering a lot of recycled glass that wasn't being used. We discovered there was stockpiling at certain facilities; it was happening here in a facility in Wahiawa," he said. "The glass wasn't moving to recyclers."
To encourage recycling of the containers, the HI-5 program increased the reimbursement to 4 cents a container - but only for glass containers that were shipped to Mainland companies that are remanufacturing the glass.
Otherwise, the handling payment would be 2 cents a container and any business recycling glass in-state would have to receive approval from the department for the use on-island.
"The recyclers would have to notify the department on what is being used, where it is being used, how quickly it will be used," Reed said. "And if they don't, the state threatened to require repayment of deposit refunds."
Between the stricter accounting on use of recycled glass in-state and the 2-cent swing in the reimbursements for Neighbor Island redemption operators, Reed said it made sense for Aloha Glass to join the program rather than fight it.
If the company continued to crush glass on island, it would have lost a penny a container in reimbursement payments. By choosing to ship the materials to the Mainland, it gains a penny a container and cuts its workload in crushing and marketing the glass.
"Frankly, it means I don't have to have 400 or 500 square feet of storage space for pulverized glass," Reed said. "We won't have the dust and mess."
It will cost more to ship the glass containers out, but Reed said he believes the higher reimbursement levels will make it economical to have his crew sort the glass by color. The Mainland companies recycling glass are reusing the material to make new bottles, which is why there is a higher price for glass sorted by color.
He noted that the redemption operators who were already shipping the glass bottles out were in favor of the policy change that increased their reimbursements.
On the Mainland, there is a market for glass, although prices are not cost-effective if the glass has to be shipped across the ocean. According to Recycler's World (www.recycle.net), a load of clear glass bottles can pay $12 to $24 a ton. Unsorted glass containers pay between $3 and $6 a ton. Size of the shipment makes a difference; higher prices are paid for truckloads of 20 tons or more.
Reed said Aloha Glass is in discussions with a California company that can handle 1 million pounds of glass a month.
Motoyama said the revision to the reimbursement policy to encourage shipping glass to the Mainland was to ensure that the materials will be recycled.
"We feel that the use and demand for recycled glass in the islands is sporadic," he said.
While state law requires use of crushed glass in place of up to 10 percent of the aggregate in paving mixes on state highways projects - when the crushed glass is available - the law also allows exceptions. If a contractor shows the material will be a detriment to the pavement, it doesn't have to be used.
"The law can be on the books, but if there is wiggle room, there can be an impediment to actually enforcing the use," he said.
He also said the 3-cent reimbursement for Neighbor Island redemption operators was based on the expectation that the bottles would be shipped to Oahu for handling.
"It wasn't designed to subsidize the recycling on island," he said. "When the original rate was put in place, the 2-cents a container was for use in-state or to ship it out to the Mainland.
"They can still use the glass on island, or they can choose to ship it out and get more money."
Reed said he has a market for crushed glass now, with the project to install fiber optic cables to Hawaiian Home Lands projects around the island. Crushed glass is considered an ideal base and filler around an underground cable since its presence will signal to any heavy equipment operator when there is a buried cable.
But he also acknowledged there is resistance to using crushed glass in paving mixes.
"Back in the '90s, it was like pulling teeth to get the guys to use glass," he said.
Reed, who initiated Aloha Glass with a Maui County grant as a pilot project supported by then-Mayor Linda Lingle, said he is proud of the fact that the county has steadily increased its recycling rates. With the HI-5 redemption program, up to 70 percent of all beverage containers sold in the islands are being recycled now.
But there is a cost to adapting to the HI-5 program.
"A lot of us have invested a fair amount of money into recycling glass. It's not insignificant for equipment to pulverize glass that's all going to be mothballed," he said. "For us, it's couple of hundred thousand bucks."
* Edwin Tanji can be reached at citydesk@mauinews.com.
http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/508465.html
