The Big Island of Hawaii has just pulled back from a garbage incinerator planned for the town of Hilo. The Hawaii County mayor withdrew a Request for Proposal (RFP) in response to widespread and intense organizing against the proposal. “We had an educated public and no way were we going to be steamrolled into a 25-year contract,” stated Kohala Councilwoman Margaret Wille, a leading opponent of the incinerator. See story inWest Hawaii Today, January 24, 2015.
No Burn Hawaii, among other groups, will now work for a county/island-wide incineration ban or a local air pollution law that restricts incineration.
The announcement marks the first garbage incinerator defeated in 2015. According to Energy Justice Network, 14 incinerators were cancelled in 2014. In addition, in December 2014 an existing plant in Broward County, FL, announced it will shut down because it could not get enough garbage after it lost its 20-year monopoly control over the waste stream. See more on that story here.
In 2009, ILSR worked with Richard Anthony Associates and Recycle Hawai’i under contract with the County Department of the Environment. We prepared a zero waste plan for the Big Island’s Department.
Download the report: Zero Waste Implementation Plan for County of Hawai’i.
