Get bulky trash under control

The time to make the streets of Honolulu more presentable is long past, so it’s a great relief to see that a new ordinance discouraging the trashing of sidewalks with bulky items will take effect May 1.

There will be challenges in enforcement, of course: There are only four inspectors to spot the scofflaws on Oahu. Also, those tagged will have a week to remove the trash, as well as the opportunity to appeal the citation before they’d have to shell out for the $250 fine (which increases with each subsequent offense).

So the benefit of the new rules, which restrict when items may be set out for bulky-item pickup, at least partly lies in deterrence. The hope is that property owners, who will be held accountable for trash left curbside any earlier than the night before scheduled pickup, will fall in line to avoid the hassle.

But to achieve that deterrent, the city must show it means business, by issuing notices of violation when prompted by the inspectors or by calls to the hotline (768-3300). If a neighbor spots dumping in progress, noting a license plate number and making a police report would be a help, too, said Markus Owens, spokesman for the city Department of Environmental Services.

Finally, municipal truck drivers also will keep an eye out for illegal dumping. Combined, these surveillance strategies should help the city get a handle on the problem.

Often the eyesores are worst in apartment zones, where multiple dwellings front a fairly short street and discards from various units pile up. The city is rightly instructing the owner of the property to provide a holding area on the premises. That’s where tenants can store any items they must move out — because they’ve brought in new furniture, for example — before the pickup date.

The city is also accountable in this scheme to hold up its end of the bargain, completing those scheduled pickups in a timely way. There is a three- to four-day window allotted for the monthly collections in any given area; completion of the task must not be prolonged any further.

Residents who need to find out the date when it’s permissible in their area to put out the bulky trash have a few options. They either can call their local collection center (find the number by calling 768-3202 and follow the prompts, or go to opala.org/solid_waste/contact/contact_us.html). They can also go to opala.org and use an online lookup function by clicking on the "collection schedules" link on the right, which is an added convenience, since many people would want to know after city offices close down.

Ultimately, however, it’s residents and property owners who bear the greatest, personal responsibility for keeping the streets clean. People have the freedom to live as they choose within their own homes but when their cast-offs land streetside, that’s living area shared by all. Oahu residents ought to have more pride in their city than to tolerate these miniature city dumps popping up, all around the island.