Honolulu's recycling program will be expanding. More than just plant cuttings, grass clippings and green waste will go into green bins when the city expands its recycling effort, so will leftover food.

"Come 2025, the city will take food waste and manufactured compostable material in the green cart," said Honolulu's Recycling Program Chief Henry Gabriel.

Right now, only green waste from bins is taken to Hawaiian Earth in Central Oahu and dumped into piles. All of that green waste adds up to about 75,000 tons every year.

"Since our inception, we have diverted more than 2.6 million tons from entering the landfill or being burned at H-power. 2.6 million tons. That's enough to fill up two Aloha Stadiums," said Hawaiian Earth Senior Vice President Marvin Min.

Green waste is now ground up and dumped into rows, then turned and monitored to get microbes to transform it into compost -- a process that takes between 12-18 months.

Rain and wind can affect the time, while plastic bags dumped with green waste slow down the process because they have to be carefully picked out, or opened up, so only green waste goes into the piles.

"People need to educated not to put their plastic bags into the green waste bins," added Min.

Next year, Hawaiian Earth will also take in food waste and other compostable items.

"A lot of the packaging you see that says compostable, we will be taking it into the green cart. If it has a #7 and it is PLA polylactic acid - that is a compostable plastic," stated Gabriel.

Under the new program, the city expects to divert an additional 20,000 tons of waste to Hawaiian Earth, which will have to get rid of the big open fields of compost.

"Everything will have to be inside a closed building, with a bio filter. And the compost will be heaped on a concrete pad, so any leaching will get reprocessed back into the system," said Min.

The city already spends $9 million a year on recycling for blue and green carts. With the new larger contract next year, it will cost even more.

"Is it worth it? Yes! We have to manage our waste properly, so if it comes at a cost, yes - we have to," added Gabriel.

Some of that additional money will go to the new facility to be built in Central Oahu.

The new computer controlled compost processing center will cut composting time down to 3-6 months, and providing more of the beneficial recycled material to farmers, landscapers and homeowners.

"When we can recycle that food waste into compost and put it back into the aina as a soil amendment that is a win win. Not just for the environment but for farmers and gardeners. So people just need to do the right thing," added Min.

He says Hawaiian Earth expects to break ground on the new food waste composting facility next spring and hopes to have it ready by the end of summer. Then additional city recycling program can start up.

Courtesy : kitv.com