QUESTION: It has become quite common for our gray, blue and green bins to get picked up days late, and sometimes not at all, in the Diamond Head area. Who can we contact or notify?
ANSWER: Call your district base-yard number before 2 p.m.
For the Honolulu area (Foster Village to Hawaii Kai), that would be 832-7840.
After 2 p.m. call the main Refuse Division number at 768-3401.
Go to opala.org and click on "contact us" for other contact information.
If refuse crews are not able to complete a route before day’s end, "they will be back the very next working day," said Markus Owens, spokesman for the city Department of Environmental Services. "Please leave the trash or recyclables at the curb."
Asked if there were still problems with delayed or missed pickups, Owens said, "The situation is better than it was months ago when we were critically short of both manpower and trucks."
While "we are experiencing much less incidences of incomplete routes, it has occurred on occasion."
The department is continuing efforts to increase manpower "and keep our trucks in good repair and in service," he said. "When we are short, our employees work double routes to try and complete routes."
QUESTION: Is it the city’s responsibility to pick up the gray/blue/green carts if they fall down on the street after dumping into their truck? I have seen many carts lying on the street, posing a driving hazard. In addition, there are times where residue has spilled out of the cart on the road, adding to the hazard.
ANSWER: If a cart has fallen over because of "operator error," the operator should right the cart, said Environmental Services spokesman Markus Owens.
"Their job is to service the cart and set it back at the curb upright," he said. "Exceptions might be in areas where there are unimproved roads and the ground is quite uneven, making it more than challenging to set the cart upright."
That said, he noted that there are other ways that carts can topple, including strong winds, passers-by and parking cars.
If you see an operator "not servicing the carts properly," Owens said to contact the Refuse Division.
QUESTION: In the Kaimuki-Palolo area, there used to be recyclable bins at Kaimuki Middle School and Kapiolani Community College, but they no longer have them. Where can we drop off our recyclable paper, plastics, cans and stuff?
ANSWER: There are numerous locations to drop off various kinds of recyclable items, but they’re now run by commercial recycling companies that have expanded their HI-5 redemption sites into multimaterial recycling centers.
After the city in 2012 stopped subsidizing more than 100 community recycling bins, most located on school campuses, their numbers quickly dwindled, then they mostly disappeared.
That’s because the schools no longer received money for hosting the bins, and Honolulu Disposal Service could not break even on costs to pick up the recyclables. (See is.gd/syLoct.)
On the city’s opala.org website, you can find locations where RRR Recycling Services Hawaii and Island Recycling will accept items such as paper, plastics and newspapers, as well as beverage and other containers. Somes sites also accept e-waste.
Click on "multi-material recycling centers" under "What to recycle." Reynolds Recycling is also listed, although it mainly collects beverage and other containers and nonferrous scrap metal.
In your case the closest locations would be RRR Recycling at 548 Kapahulu Ave., and 3109 Waialae Ave., or Island Recycling at 2960 Waialae Ave.
MAHALO
To Sea Life Park for taking such good care of my 5-year-old grandson when he cut his head while playing a bit recklessly on the jungle gym. An employee at the snack bar gave us water and napkins to clean him up. After my grandson was still hurting, that employee called over another worker, who offered first aid, including an ice pack. My grandson was fine and raring to go. — JS
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