Paradise Trashed and Aloha Vanishing

[gtill]

Yep, pollution is everywhere! Recycling is sustainable only if it is profitable. Junk cars were drastically reduced on oahu because of the chineese thirst for steel, till today. with metal recyclng especially. The CC is fumbling with a half baked recycling program that has been approved by the unions and is doomed or least will require subsidies. Plus now you pay for twice a week pickup. The tex drive in paper conversion was driven by community concerns. A green label for a business is a potential financial plus for them, win-win and soft sold, not ordered! We don't really have enough volume here to justify recycling, plus the shipping cost is exhorbinant for a car let alone garbage. Take hi5, that works pretty well with cans at 6cents, bottles though need 15cents, and they'd dissapear. That is win win, those who can afford to throw them out provide an income for the needy, and charitable orgs. An option, you could redeem it, not an order! Most of the value of recyclables is eaten up by shipping, thanks in part to our protected big time shippers, interisland & mainland. Profitable private recycling works, government run ones don't, with gov, cost doesn't matter, they can always find a pot(geothermal fund)not being used, or just raise taxes. On oahu a junk car worth 20 bucks goes to 100 if there's a ship coming. There was a plastic lumber mfg. on maui, but they couldn't get enough volume to fill orders when we inquired, not sure of todays status, but to get an end product you need volume, coupled with absolute zero emission standards, can it compete? Mexico's Petronas national oil company for instance. Huge profits, but not much trickles down. So now we get a huge influx of illeagls coming up here, and where's Kennedy today? A safety net is a necessity in a wealthy nation, but without controls, is is terribly destructive to it's supposed beneficiaries! Another question, why can't matson give very special rates going mainland, their ships are nearly empty, and they have a near monopoly thanks to the gov., why won't helco get behind geo power, same thing!