Environmental and community groups are asking the County of Kauaʻi not to put a second landfill in West Kauaʻi.
The island's only landfill, located in Kekaha, is estimated to reach capacity in 2027. The county is in the middle of expanding it, but that's a short-term solution while it figures out another way to manage the 80,000 to 90,000 tons of waste annually.
The leading long-term solution is a new landfill, and one of the potential sites is in Kekaha.
In a letter dated Sept. 10, the environmental law organization Earthjustice requested the county choose another site besides Kekaha. The group has also been working with community members on the issue.
“We already have one. Kekaha has been taking the brunt of the rubbish for many years, and to build another one here? That's just totally not right. And it's in the wrong place to begin with, but it's like picking on the west side,” said Kawai Warren, who has lived in the area for more than 40 years.
Warren is part of the community-based organization Nā Kia‘i Kai, a group of West Kauaʻi residents that includes Native Hawaiian fishers and cultural practitioners. It was formed to protect the area’s coastal environment, marine life and the community as a whole.
A portion of the 98-acre Kekaha Landfill accepted waste from 1953 until 1993, then another portion of the landfill opened to receive the trash. The county’s current work will extend that part vertically and horizontally. The county proposes increasing the permitted maximum height from 120 feet to about 172 feet above sea level.
Warren said locals use the nearby coast for fishing, swimming and surfing. He said heavy rainfall can turn the waste and chemicals in the landfill into an environmental problem.
“The existing landfill has the potential of being spread throughout not only in the ocean, but throughout this whole west side because it's so low. You have that kind of rainfall, it's just going to happen,” he said.
Earthjustice said the new landfill would be in a tsunami inundation zone, where landfills are prohibited under state law. Senior attorney Kylie Wager Cruz said it would be an environmental injustice to further subject the Kekaha community to Kauaʻi’s trash.
“The residents make up just 4% of the island's population, and they're currently hosting 100% of the island's waste. … Putting a second landfill on the west side and in this community, which is largely Native Hawaiian and lower income, would be fundamentally unfair,” Wager Cruz said.
Earthjustice also said the proposed landfill would be less than a half-mile from the state Department of Hawaiian Homelands' proposed 1,400-acre Pu‘u ‘Ōpae Kuleana Homestead. Those residents would be exposed to the smell of the landfill.
The organization is suggesting a location along Maʻalo Road, around 4 miles from Līhuʻe. The county considered it several years ago and completed an environmental impact statement in 2018.
That site is 270 acres, according to that EIS. It would cost just over $58 million to build a landfill with a lifespan of more than 260 years. The county assessed eight potential sites, including one in Kaheka, and said the Maʻalo location “is considered the most practicable and viable alternative.”
Wager Cruz said it's still likely the best, and possibly the quickest, option. That could be an enticing option for the county as the existing Kekaha Landfill approaches the end of its lifespan.
Completing an EIS takes time, and Wager Cruz noted that an EIS hasn't been conducted for the new Kekaha location.
In the EIS, the state Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Administration opposed a Maʻalo landfill. The agencies said the landfill would be a safety threat because it would attract wildlife, including birds, and increase the risk of strikes for aircraft at Līhuʻe Airport.
The county said the Maʻalo site will be “assessed for viability,” but added that “prior indications are that it’s not available.” The county said other sites will be assessed.
The county is working with consultants to assess potential landfill sites — and alternatives. A 2023 study considered technologies other than a landfill to manage waste.
Alternative technologies are feasible, but the county said the only way to know if they can be scaled to handle all of Kauaʻi's trash is by soliciting proposals. It's developing a request for proposal for the design, construction and long-term operation of an alternative waste technology.
Whatever the case, Wager Cruz said it's the county's responsibility to manage the waste properly.
"The county has known there's been a waste disposal problem for the last 20 years, and it's had all the time in the world to plan for other options, including other landfill sites, a construction and demolition facility, waste-to-energy, curbside recycling and any number of measures that could have helped address this problem," she said.
The search for a new municipal solid waste landfill has been in the works since 2000.
