Hauula recycling center reopens

Two months after being forced to shut down, the Reynolds Recycling center in Hau­ula reopened last week under a new arrangement with the city.

The center reopened Friday at 54-290 Kame­ha­meha Highway, also known as Lot 64. Reynolds had operated on the site when it was privately owned. After the city took over the property in 2010, officials told Reynolds that the recycling center could not remain there unless it went through a bidding process open to all recyclers.

Instead, Reynolds moved its Hau­ula operations to a property next door, known as Lot 65. The city is trying to acquire both lots for a proposed fire station.

Reynolds operations were shut down again Oct. 22 when city officials took possession of the 20,000-square-foot Lot 65, posted "no trespassing" signs and told Reynolds, along with property owner Choon James, that the center no longer had legal grounds to be there.

James, a licensed real estate broker, has refused to sell the property to the city. A lawsuit she brought against the city is scheduled to be heard in state Circuit Court in March.

In an effort to reopen the recycling operation, the city sought bids, as required by state procurement law, for an entity to operate a recycling center on Lot 64. On Oct. 31, Reynolds was the sole bidder and was named the winner of a month-to-month contract at $1,051.99 a month. Reynolds then needed to obtain approvals from the city Department of Planning and Permitting and the state Department of Health’s Solid and Hazardous Waste Branch before it could open.

Bruce Iverson, Reynolds’ marketing and development director, said the Hau­ula site "does steady business." Without it, recyclers had to go to Kahuku or Kaneohe, he said.

The center is now open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed from noon to 1:30 p.m. for lunch, Tuesdays through Saturdays. The center buys all HI-5 products, aluminum, copper, brass and stainless-steel scrap metals and nondeposit glass bottles and jars. It also accepts nondeposit plastic containers (Nos. 1 and 2 only), corrugated cardboard, newspaper and office paper.

James said she’s happy the neighborhood again has a recycling center. But she warned area residents that the arrangement will last only until the city is ready to proceed with the fire station, adding that there are no other locations in the community where such a facility could go.

Maintaining that the city wrongfully interfered in a private business transaction she had with Reynolds, she said, "It forcefully shut down a private business and then turned around … and put it in their city lot," she said.

James has repeatedly accused the city of prematurely taking control of Lot 65, her parcel. Because James refused to accept the city’s $521,000 check for the land, she still retains the title to the property.

City officials said James and her husband, Mark, agreed to sell the property years ago but later reneged, forcing the city to begin eminent domain action against them. But Choon James said she and her husband only agreed to allow the city to send surveyors to explore the site and never agreed to sell it.

James has also accused the city of violating her constitutional right to free speech when signs she had put up voicing objections to the city’s actions were twice dismantled and taken away by city workers. A separate claim she filed on those grounds is pending in U.S. District Court.