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.. the beach parks aren't maintained well enough, particularly after the weekends.. just go down to Onekahakaha or Reeds bay early Monday morning and you will see what I mean..
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Unfortunately, that is a people problem. It is really sad how the very people that live here, are the ones trashing the islands parks. It isn't the tourists.
Maybe if the county stopped cleaning up after these slobs for a few weeks, and left some poignant signs explaining that the reason the park is in disarray, is because people are too stupid and lazy to pick up after themselves. Maybe a type of public shaming campaign?
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We used to have a trash can at the Waiopae tidepools.We had to remove it because the locals were bringing their household trash and filling it up.
Now we just have to pick up the diapers and beer bottles left behind.Never once have I picked up a styrofoam clamshell container.
So the council needs to ban babies and beer !
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I don't think I have ever seen Styrofoam anything down here. But slippers, beer bottle tops, candy wrappers, busted balloons,cigarette butts,and usually a pile or three or four... of dog crap.
..What would King Kamehameha do..
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My wife and I pick up trash in random places 2-3 times a week. I can't say that we do it for fun; But we do find a certain amount of satisfaction in doing so. I find plenty of styrofoam among the mass of plastic and cigarette butts. Some enforcement of the existing litter laws would help. We here already have one of the most accessible waste disposal systems that I have ever encountered. It is not for a lack of disposal options that our island is being trashed. It is simply a lack of respect, responsibility, and accountability. Terrandshar, I applaud you for having made the effort to collect it for proper disposal in the first place.
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What I've noticed .. fwiw... people my age (50ish) tend to clean up a bit .. younger folk 20- 30ish don't seem to care.. somewhere, people lost interest in taking care of the land they live in...through the last generation.
..What would King Kamehameha do..
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somewhere, people lost interest in taking care of the land they live in...
In my experience the more someone talks about the aina, the less chance they'll have any energy left to do something for the aina.
“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.”
-Joseph Brodsky
"I'm at that stage in life where I stay out of discussions. Even if you say 1+1=5, you're right - have fun." - Keanu Reeves
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The trash people toss out their car window from the local fast food crap station, along with the junk they leave lying around their house, to the beer bottles, diapers they leave behind at the park or beach when the cans are full already eventually all falls into the ocean at some point. After all, this is an island, where do you expect it to go if you don't stop the flow first.
Community begins with Aloha
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I heard Bill Nye, 'The science guy' yesterday talking about this so, I looked it up.
Mealworms Can Happily And Safely Eat Styrofoam September 30, 2015 http://www.popsci.com/mealworms-can-safe...r-plastics:
Mealworms Eating Styrofoam
Mealworms are those squirmy guys you took care of in science class or fed to a particularly hungry pet chicken or reptile. And new studies from Stanford suggest that these creepy crawlers could be incredibly good for the environment.
Two papers, published in Environmental Science and Technology this week, found that mealworms can eat Styrofoam, turning a huge source of waste into compost that can be safely used on soil.
"Sometimes, science surprises us. This is a shock," said Craig Criddle, who supervises plastics research at Stanford, in a press release.
Styrofoam, and in particular Styrofoam cups, are everywhere, and less than 10 percent of those used in the United States get recycled. In the first study researchers found that mealworms fed only Styrofoam were just as healthy as mealworms fed the more traditional meal (bran, in this case). Each worm could eat about a pill-sized portion every day.
In the second study focused on the mealworms' gut microbes, which are able to break down the plastic safely. The researchers were able to turn this bacteria into a film that they applied to polystyrene, a form of the same plastic used to make Styrofoam. The bacteria were also able to eat through polystyrene, but at a much slower rate than the mealworms.
The researchers plan to continue looking into whether mealworms can safely break down other plastics, like those that make up car parts or microbeads. They also plan to look for the marine equivalent of mealworms, in the hopes that some sea creature with a strong stomach can help reduce the massive amount of plastic waste in the oceans.
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Here is some Styrofoam I did find on Banyan drive..
http://i.imgur.com/TOLyG4s.jpg
Don't know if is from workers or what.. but it has been accumulating for a few years.
@ the sewage pump house across from Reeds bay park.
..What would King Kamehameha do..
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Wille and Eoff have their minds locked into 1970's "environmentalists". This is just another solid waste issue they are trying to do with a their minds apparently in an acid-trip flashback to the 70's all the time.
There are all kinds of things going on in the background. The issue of taking solid waste to west Hawaii from east Hawaii was only an issue when oil was $100 per barrel. It made the trucking prohibitively expensive. Now, that fuel prices are half, the cost of transportation is not a deal breaker.
In fact, Wille and Eoff have taken it too far, ramrodding the county to finance a central green waste composting "park" on Kona side. This is trucking green waste from the east side to be turned into compost on the west side, then the compost trucked to the east side, supposedly to be sold. Who those customers are is a mystery. This is going to be county tax subsidized big time, costing $10 million per year to run. It will be hilarious to watch how this turns out, considering it will probably mean trucking infected ohia over to the west side.
The styrofoam issue is moot. There is a private bioenergy facility (pretty sure the process is waste-to-energy disguised as a more "acceptable" term) going in on the west side, construction starting this summer. The state has already provided $100 million matching bond. It will handle styrofoam.
quote:
BioEnergy Hawaii partners with Ulupono Initiative on project
BioEnergy Hawaii LLC, (BEH) Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, which designs, develops and operates waste treatment and alternative energy systems, has partnered with the investment firm Ulupono Initiative to finance a resource recovery facility planned for the west side of Hawaii Island.
The limited partnership will share all financial obligations and proceeds of the $50-million facility. In addition to providing resources in capitalization and finance, Ulupono will offer BEH guidance and support through a system-based model that connects companies within its portfolio of investments.
“We are honored to have a significant investor such as Ulupono Initiative become a full partner in our waste conversion project,” says Kosti Shirvanian, president of BEH. “Our missions and values are completely aligned. We are both concerned with the health of our environment as well as the long-term growth and sustainability of Hawaii. Most importantly, we both see waste as a valuable resource.”
The BEH project is designed to prevent 70 percent of municipal solid waste from being landfilled. It will include recycling operations and produce multiple value products from the waste streams including recyclables, organics and residual solid fuel. Recyclables will be recovered and marketed as a commodity; wet organic waste will be treated through anaerobic digestion to produce fertilizer, compost and biogas; and the solid materials, including mixed papers, textiles, low-value plastics and wood, will be processed into a postrecycled engineered fuel.
“We support proven technologies that can help us better manage our waste in environmentally in financially sound ways,” says Datta. “As a long-time Kona resident, I believe BioEnergy Hawaii’s plan will provide a sustainable and economical solution to address our county’s waste struggles.”
The West Hawaii facility will be completely financed with private equity. BEH has the support of a $100 million special purpose revenue bond issued by the state.
Construction on the BioEnergy Hawaii facility is scheduled to begin during the summer of 2016.
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