More homes, people, restaurants and retail shops have all been products of the latest real estate development boom in Kakaako. There’s also been a boom in something else: illegal use of public streets for emptying dumpsters.
Metal 3-cubic-yard trash and recycling bins occupy some streets in the area almost daily.
And with more new buildings and businesses opening, dumpsters are piling up — 10 bins left recently on a single street on the same block.
The practice, which isn’t confined to Kakaako, is causing traffic problems and unsightliness. At times, broken glass and rubbish end up on sidewalks and in street gutters. City enforcement appears lax or absent.
City rules say multiunit residential buildings shall keep adjacent streets and sidewalks free of refuse except under certain circumstances. The exceptions don’t include large bins for regular trash disposal.
“Three cubic yard containers designed for mechanical handling, if used, shall not be placed on the street or sidewalk, but shall be placed within the property to be served in locations directly accessible to the pickup forks of the collection truck,” reads part of Chapter 9 in the Revised Ordinances of Honolulu.
Jon Nouchi, deputy director of the city Department of Transportation Services, added in a statement, “Absent of a street usage permit, which is more appropriate for longer-term construction and other projects, it is not legal to place dumpsters in any city roadway for collection.”
The city said this has been an issue in downtown Honolulu, Waikiki, Aina Haina and Niu Valley as well as Kakaako. But the concentration of high-rise development in Kakaako in recent years has elevated the problem in a fast-growing part of urban Honolulu.
Multiunit residential buildings are required to have areas where dumpsters can be emptied on their property. But many older buildings lack such areas, and even new buildings with the required space don’t always use it.
Causing traffic
At Ward Village in Kakaako, where Howard Hughes Corp. has opened two new condominium towers in the last two years and has two more under construction, a spokeswoman said waste service providers sometimes move dumpsters from residential and commercial properties onto streets for service because of clearance issues, though dumpsters are immediately removed.
Developer Stanford Carr, who built the Keauhou Place condo tower that opened last year in Kakaako, said trash bins are stored in the parking garage and are supposed to be carted onto a service driveway on the mauka side of the building for emptying.
“There’s no reason for them to go on the street,” he said.
But that’s exactly what was happening.
Honolulu Disposal Service used a small truck to pull dumpsters out of the garage on the makai side of the building to leave them on Pohukaina Street for emptying.
A rental apartment midrise called Keauhou Lane connected to Keauhou Place also was putting dumpsters on the street, as was one if its commercial tenants, natural-food store Down to Earth.
At Halekauwila Place, a low-income rental tower that Carr also developed, Honolulu Disposal pulls dumpsters out onto Keawe Street instead of using a driveway Carr provided on the tower site for trash service.
As a result, two-way Keawe Street becomes a one-lane road not only when bins are being emptied, but also for long periods when bins are left in the street.
Another example of traffic-disrupting dumpster service occurred on a recent day farther makai on Keawe Street as a Honolulu Recovery Systems front-loader took up a traffic lane facing the wrong way outside the Salt retail complex parking garage. After emptying a dumpster on the street, the truck reversed through an intersection to set up a forward left turn on Auahi Street.
Aron Dote, a spokesman for Salt owner Kamehameha Schools, said contractor Honolulu Disposal is obligated to adhere to all city and state laws as part of its contract with Salt and a nearby rental apartment midrise called Flats at Pu‘unui where dumpsters are also put out onto streets.
“We are working with the contractor to ensure they adhere to any community concerns,” he said.
Lack of space
Dwight Yoshimura, executive vice president of Honolulu Disposal, the state’s largest private trash hauler, said the company is stuck between a rock and a hard place because trash service is mandatory for health reasons, yet many buildings don’t have areas where it’s possible to empty dumpsters.
“The challenge is, where do you go to have enough clearance to dump your bin?” he asked, explaining that front-loader trucks need 30 feet of clearance. “It’s tough.”
In some places such as Waikiki, Honolulu Disposal tries to empty dumpsters early in the morning to avoid conflicts. In some instances, trash haulers also “stage” bins, meaning they are put on the street for immediate emptying and removal. But even this is illegal.
Nouchi said dumpsters shouldn’t be placed on roadways even for imminent collection.
City rules provide for inspectors to issue citations for using streets for private trash collection based on inspectors witnessing violations or receiving reports from citizens or if they have probable cause to believe a violation occurred. The city can fine violators $250 a day.
City officials said no citations or fines have been issued for this practice in the last five years. They said various city departments will be meeting to discuss enforcement, and that police can be called if a dumpster poses a traffic hazard.
Atrious Alexander, general manager of the twin high-rise Kakaako condos One Waterfront Towers, said putting out dumpsters on adjacent streets has been done by service providers including Honolulu Disposal, West Oahu Aggregates and Rolloffs Hawaii since the towers opened in 1990.
“That’s been the practice for 27 years,” he said. “The contractor takes them out (to the street). The contractor puts them back in (the building).”
Jose Roberto Dominguez, general manager of Keauhou Place, said a meeting last month with Honolulu Disposal that also involved operators of the adjacent Keauhou Lane apartments resulted in dumpster service being contained on the property’s service road.
A similar change is planned at Halekauwila Place.
