Community and business support for a composting facility in Central Oahu appears to be growing.
The board of the Wahiawa Community & Business Association has voted to support the proposed facility, even though it will add some traffic, noise and odors on the outskirts of the neighborhood.
Association President William R. Putre and Economic Development Committee Chairman Daniel S. Nakasone said the proposal by Hawaiian Earth Recycling LLC will provide alternatives to oil-based fertilizers and allow the local agricultural industry to be more resilient in uncertain economic times.
"Recycling organic matter such as green waste, food waste and sewage sludge and turning it into beneficial agricultural products is a necessity in today’s world," Putre and Nakasone said in a joint letter.
The association’s May 20 letter is included in Hawaiian Earth Recycling’s draft environmental impact statement, now available for public review at the state Office of Environmental Quality Control website: oeqc.doh.hawaii.gov/Shared%20Documents/Environmental_Notice/current_issue.pdf
The proposed 112-acre site, leased from owner Cedar Grove Hawaii LLC on the north end of Wilikina Drive, is within 2,500 feet of Schofield Barracks, the company said.
It would process sewage sludge, green waste and food waste into compost by as much as 65,000 tons annually to 150,000 tons, reducing waste to the city’s landfill.
Greg Apa, an owner of Hawaiian Earth Recycling, said Wahiawa-Whitmore Village and North Shore neighborhood boards have also voted to support the project.
To control smells, the trucks carrying composting material would unload in an enclosed facility and the interior composting operation has a biofilter system, the company said.
But the city Solid Waste Branch has raised questions about how the company will take the waste from the enclosed facility to a covered composting area outdoors.
Apa said the odor of the compost taken to the composting area will be weaker because it would be mixed with wood and green waste.
"We’re going to control over 90 plus percent of the odors. … It’s proven technology," Apa said.
According to an odor study paid for by the company, the smell from composting would be detectable only a fraction of 1 percent of the time in nearby residential areas.
The company said traffic would only increase about 3 percent as a result of the composting facility.
The company sells Menehune Magic-brand compost and has two locations on Oahu: a composting facility at Campbell Industrial Park and a transfer station at Kapaa Quarry in Kailua.
The proposed site would replace the Campbell composting site, which would become a transfer station.
The city sought proposals for the composting system and awarded Hawaiian Earth Recycling the contract. Under the city’s request for proposals, the composting facility is to process at least 100,000 tons a year, in return for the city paying $118 per ton, according to the city Department of Environmental Services.
The proposed facility will process up to 150,000 tons a year of green waste, food waste, dewatered sewage sludge and produce compost, soil amendments, potting mixes and erosion control materials. The company said the sewage waste would come from the city waste treatment facilities at Honouliuli and Kailua.
