Name in the News: Lori Kahikina

Lori Kahikina takes care of your garbage, and she’s happy to do it.

As the director of the city’s Department of Environmental Services (ENV), Kahikina directs a staff of 1,100 employees responsible for residential opala: trash and recycling, bulky items, sewage.

“I love my job. I really do,” Kahikina laughs. “I love dealing with all the stuff nobody wants to deal with afterwards; the trash, the sewers. If we can make a positive impact on the community — that’s what ENV is about. I love that.”

The public knows Kahikina as the frank and outspoken representative of ENV, especially in its most difficult hours. When 500,000 gallons of raw sewage befouled Waikiki in 2015, generating international headlines — “Spilled Sewage Forces Closure Of Hawaii’s Famed Waikiki Beach,” read one — Kahikina took the heat. She even called a radio station to apologize.

“So after I hung up I could hear them: ‘Wow, we’ve never had that before, a city official calling to apologize,’” she said. “But there was nothing else you could do. Oh, man!”

Kahikina doesn’t always apologize. She has been a staunch defender of the city’s plan to turn its bulky-item pickup program into an appointment-only operation, replacing the regular monthly pickups to which Oahu residents have become accustomed.

The pilot project, now underway between Foster Village and Hawaii Kai, has come under fire by critics, who complain that people ignore the new rules and still pile up trash and bulky items that fester because the city will no longer pick them up without an appointment.

“I get frustrated because we, the city, have spoiled the community: It’s OK to throw your trash on the sidewalk,” Kahikina said. “Why is that OK? It’s not. So we need to change … the habits of the community.”

Kahikina, a graduate of Kamehameha Schools and the University of Hawaii, grew up in Windward Oahu, where she still lives. She has three sons and a grandson, and holds a degree in mechanical engineering and a professional civil engineering license. She was appointed ENV director by Mayor Kirk Caldwell in 2013, having worked in the department for several years prior.

Question: Why is an appointment-only system for bulky items better than the regular monthly pickup system?

Answer: What we have learned from the island-wide implementation of a scheduled monthly collection is that it does not work and it is not sustainable. Going to a call-in appointment-based system makes sense as it reduces overtime, vehicle breakdowns and employee injuries. The old way took our crews three to four days canvassing every street, whether there were items set out or not. Now our crews take the appointment sheet and go directly from one location to the next without spending idle hours driving up and down every street. In addition, the time that legal bulky items are placed on the curb is significantly less, thus hopefully minimizing the window of illegal dumpers to add to the legal items (overnight versus several days).

In the past, ENV picked up not only bulky items — whether placed properly or illegally — but picked up all of the regular trash people piled on top of the items. Currently through the first two-plus months, we are seeing both an uptick in appointments and tonnage. We’ve picked up every item that’s had an appointment.

Q: How do you respond to complaints that the new bulky-item system isn’t working?

A: The bulky pilot is working, just as it is designed to do. We listened to the public and have made one major tweak to the system, which since Aug. 1 allows each individual unit in a multi-unit building to make their own appointment for up to five items. In addition, the amount of “illegal hot spots” has dropped from 162 in July to approximately 43 so far in the month of August.

Q: What has the city done to negotiate with the United Public Workers (UPW) to address issues raised by the city auditor’s report on bulky-item pickup, including: sick-leave abuses, less-than-maximum loads collected, excessive overtime and the inability to cover all manual routes on regular time?

A: ENV believes Honolulu’s pilot system will address most, if not all, of the concerns brought forth in the auditor’s report. ENV is tweaking the process and meets monthly with UPW to discuss and evaluate the pilot’s progress. From the pilot we anticipate further changes and expansion to the remainder of the city, and we have a commitment from UPW to negotiate that.

During the pilot, the Honolulu bulky-item crews have incurred no industrial injuries, vehicle accidents or mechanical failures. Other areas, such as sick-leave abuse and overtime, appear to be decreasing. The overtime (in the bulky-item pickup pilot project only) is near zero. However, more time is needed for proper evaluation.

Q: Is a fee for trash pickup — be it regular or bulky item — inevitable?

A: Yes. It is very difficult to try and maintain a high degree of service if resources specifically related to the cost of that service do not expand. Where there’s a nexus between the fee and the service, you really should charge a fee. And there are ways to make it adjustable. If you create less trash than me, then you shouldn’t have to pay as much as me. So maybe you get a smaller trash can than me. Maybe we don’t charge for the blue cart because you’re trying to (reduce trash) by recycling.

Q: Are we generating more trash than we should? What should we do about it?

A: Since 2013 (through 2018), the rate of trash has been consistent at 1.2 million tons annually. It is not so much the trash, but we’ve seen an 80% increase in bulky item tonnage from 2008-2018. Illegal dumping is the true culprit. We cannot be everywhere and the current “litter law” only works if the Honolulu Police Department actually sees the act in progress. One way to curb illegal dumping is to provide ENV fining power — taking photos and videos submitted by the public to go after the illegal dumpers.

Q: How are we doing on recycling?

A: There used to be a profit: The recycler sells the product, we share in the profit. But there is no profit anymore, it’s negative. The commodity prices have dropped so low that the recycler is storing it as long as he can, to try and maximize whatever price he can get. But if that’s at a negative, it’s at a negative. So we share in the negative. It’s costing the city over a million dollars (a year) to recycle. So for all I know, it’s ending up in landfills on the mainland somewhere. Are we really recycling?

Whereas if we can just send it to H-POWER, we’re creating energy and we’re making a profit on certain products: cardboard, paper, plastic. Glass and metals you can’t send to H-POWER. We do have a request for proposals out right now … to recycle the glass on-island.

Q: What has the city done to improve its handling of sewage spills after the August 2015 incident at Ala Moana?

A: For ongoing construction projects that are at “risk” (i.e., projects that in some manner or form could result in a spill due to adverse weather), now having the Wastewater Engineering and Construction Division within ENV makes communication easier. If ENV feels the risks are too high, the directors get involved. Decisions such as postponing (or taking additional precautions) for certain construction activities are made.

Q: What would you recommend to make Oahu a cleaner place?

A: Have the community take responsibility. In Japan and New Zealand, you don’t see sidewalks being used as a dumping ground. There aren’t even trash cans in public parks. Whatever trash people generate, they take it back with them. Government cannot be expected to do everything for the community and continue to enable poor behavior by picking up anything and everything that is illegally dumped. It is not sustainable. Another thing I cannot stress enough is to reduce and reuse. The responsible thing to do is not generate so much trash in the first place. Then the next option is to reuse the material. There are several reuse organizations listed on our website (opala.org) that will take what someone feels is trash and reuse it.

Q: You get a lot of complaints. What about compliments?

A: One homeowner said to us, “You’re the CIA of the city. Nobody knows you’re there. … But the minute there’s a problem, you guys are there.” And that’s how we want it.