If you like lei, today’s your day

It’s May 1, which means it’s May Day, celebrated around the world for a variety of reasons. In many cultures, it’s a traditional spring holiday, with roots as an ancient northern hemisphere spring festival. But in more than 80 countries, May 1 is a national holiday called International Workers’ Day, a celebration of the international labor movement.

In Hawaii, May Day is Lei Day, a time to celebrate island culture and the tradition of giving lei. All together now: "May Day is Lei Day in Hawaii, Garlands of flowers everywhere, All of the colors in the rainbow, Maidens with blossoms in their hair … "

Farewell to the big white recycling bin

This is probably as good a time as any for the end of an era, specifically the era of those white recycling bins that have been parked on many school campuses and other locations for two decades.

With Oahu’s embrace of curbside recycling, the bins are used less and less. And it’s a rare opportunity for the city to save money, about $1.5 million annually. Still, there are some neighborhoods with narrow streets that can’t accommodate the trucks that pick up the blue curbside bins.

It’s great that Rolloffs Hawaii plans a pilot program with smaller bins, but unfortunate that it’s geared only for school use. Let’s hope somebody makes a provision for those left-out neighborhoods.