$9 Million Hawaiian Recycling Plant Sits Idle, Victim of Expanded Landfill

Date: October 10, 2010

Source: News Room

As no good deed goes unpunished, Hawaii County's new $9.1 million 20,000 square foot recycling facility sits idle despite being ready since July. According to reports in the Tribune-Herald newspaper, the facility's original purpose was to compliment a planned waste-to-energy facility in replacing the county's aging Hilo landfill, which had been slated for closure in 2006. Beginning in 2003, the county began studying a waste-to-energy plant but blanched when faced with a potential $125 million price tag. The recycling facility took on added importance when the county cancelled plans for the waste-to-energy project in 2008 after having spent $1 million studying the idea. Instead, the county expanded the Hilo landfill by steepening its sides to extend volume and lifespan. Now the county must decide how to utilize the station and whether to turn it over to a private contractor.

See also "Plan to Build Waste-to-Energy Plant in Hawaii in Jeopardy," (www.wasteinfo.com/news/wbj20080423E.htm).

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