State takes smart step to refine HI-5¢ program
When residents put in the effort to get their recyclable containers ready for redemption, they know how much they should be getting. And there's nothing more dispiriting than doing all that work and feeling cheated when the reward — the deposit money — is handed out.
So it's gratifying to see that HI-5¢ staffers are beginning to check the accuracy of the way the program computes the redemption payouts. Under the current rules, redemption centers can merely weigh the bundles to figure what's owed if recyclers bring in more than 50 containers at a time. Naturally, anyone's count can be off, but enough reports about disappointing results have surfaced to merit a closer look.
Additionally, the state should press ahead quickly with its plan to change those rules so that centers would have to count hauls of up to 200 containers. Beyond that number, the participants are likely large-scale recyclers likely to accept the weight-based value.
It's the small-time household recycler who needs the encouragement; recycling has to become part of the everyday ethic if Honolulu is going to reduce waste that ends up in the overburdened landfills.
This can't happen if recycling becomes the domain of only those with a high threshold for irritation. The state wisely has decided to conduct a study to gain a clear understanding of all the problems with the program. Meanwhile, there is already anecdotal evidence that former participants are giving up and backing out of the program.
That's why, as many other jurisdictions discovered long ago, the most effective way to recapture recyclable material from the waste stream is to move the point of collection to the most accommodating location: fronting a residence.
About 60 percent of the estimated 800 million cans and bottles sold annually in Hawai'i are being redeemed at this point in the HI-5¢ recycling program, but that's really not good enough. Counties should find the best way of instigating curbside collection.
Until that happens, we have to make the program we have as effective as possible.
