The City and County of Honolulu wants to recycle food waste through a curbside pickup system.
Bill 62 (2020) was introduced last year, but the idea to recycle food waste was first brought to the council in 2007. The city conducted a pilot project for the curbside collection of food waste about 10 years ago.
"We provided these city staffers countertop compostable bins and put the kitchen scraps into these compostable containers. They would seal up the compostable bag every so often, and then put the compostable bag in their green cart," said Michael O’Keef, the deputy director for the Department of Environmental Services.
"It would go in with the green waste, and then city crews would come in and collect the green cart, and they would take that to... Hawaiian Earth Recycling. The people on the ground at Hawaiian Earth Recycling... ground it up, mulched it, and turned it into compost," O'Keef said.
The pilot project failed because the waste attracted bugs and rodents to residents’ homes. O’Keef said the department will have to redesign the system to avoid that problem.
On O’ahu, 15% of residential garbage is food, which is about 425 pounds of food waste per household every year.
The Committee on Transportation, Sustainability and Health advanced Bill 62 (2020) on Nov. 16. It will go through a second reading in front of the full council in December.
