Aloha Trash Talkers!
Here is the question of the month:
Where does our recycling material go? Is it really recycled?
Answer – Yes! Hana Hou uses local commodities buyers to channel recycling material including Atlas Recycling, Big Island Scrap Metal, and Business Services Hawaii. Materials are generally processed in the following manner:
- Glass – Glass stays on island and is recycled into aggregate for concrete and asphalt (sometimes known as glasscrete). Many new local construction projects utilize glasscrete.
- Cardboard – Most cardboard is sold to Asian markets as post-consumer material to be reprocessed into new paper products.
- Residential Mixed Material (Paper products, plastics, food tins, etc.) go to a local Materials Recovery Facility (MuRF) located in Keeau, HI, then sold for to mainland recovery processing plants for further processing and re-sale.
- Metals – Sold to mainland metal markets for re-smelting.
More information: www.hawaiizerowaste.org/info/faqs/#.VOvN4ClU3ww
We took the pictures of the cardboard and glass that are used in this blog when we visited the recycling centers in Kona and Hilo. The bottom photo was given to us by the facility in Hilo (because we don’t have a drone).
Please send your name and email address if you are interested in a live Trash Talk gathering during Spring Break to cathyron@me.com
See website below if you have not signed up for Hana Hou recycling yet.
Mahalo,
Cathy O’Neill – Homeowner
&
Sarah Riznyk of
Leave a Reply