Mililani Curbside Recycling Program Ready To Roll

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The city's color-coded bins gray for trash

The city’s color-coded bins (from left) gray for trash, green for green waste like yard trimmings, and blue for mixed recyclables including newspaper, cans and bottles. Photo by city recycling specialist Irobela Wreagh.

Mililani households will soon receive their new green and blue recycling bins as part of the city’s pilot curbside recycling program that is set to roll out the week of Oct. 29, said city recycling coordinator Suzanne Jones.

About 12,000 Mililani households and 8,000 in Hawaii Kai will participate in the six- to 12-month program that city officials plan to expand islandwide.

The green bins will be for green waste like yard trimmings and unflocked Christmas trees without ornaments. The blue bins are designated for mixed recyclables, including newspaper, corrugated cardboard, glass bottles and jars, aluminum cans and plastic bottles and jugs.

After a two-month transition period, a new trash pickup system will decrease the number of trash pickups from twice weekly to once weekly starting Jan. 7. The other weekly pickup will be for recycling, and will alternate between green waste and mixed recyclables.

Mililani residents will have the option to pay $10 a month for a second weekly trash pickup; Hawaii Kai residents will not. This sole difference between the two community programs will help the city “determine the need for a second refuse pickup” and help it adjust the system for islandwide expansion, the city’s website said.

“I think that the participating communities are generally supportive, and some have concerns about how particular components of the new system will work for their household,” Jones said, referring to opinions aired at community meetings in both areas this month. “Almost all seemed willing to move forward and see how it works.”

Jones, who lives in Mililani, said curbside recycling offers an “additional convenient option for people to recycle” and doesn’t replace existing recycling programs.“HI-5 redemption centers and community recycling bins at schools will remain in place.”

Islandwide expansion of the program “could capture 40,000 tons of mixed recyclables annually and twice that in green waste,” she said, noting that costs for the pilot program and its expansion were not yet available.

For more information, visit www.opala.org and click on Curbside Recycling, e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call 768-3200.