Bolstered by the passage of a similar measure on Maui, the Hawaii County Council on Friday moved an amended version of a bill banning polystyrene foam food containers to the Environmental Management Commission.<\/p>\n
The measure, Bill 13, will return to the council later this summer for further action on first reading. If passed, it would go into effect July 1, 2019, with an educational program initiated that January.<\/p>\n
Maui\u2019s bill, passed unanimously by that council and signed last month by Mayor Alan Arakawa, goes into effect Dec. 31, 2018. This makes Maui the first county in the state to pass a ban, while Hawaii County has been struggling with it for several years.<\/p>\n
Puna Councilwoman Eileen O\u2019Hara, the bill sponsor, asked that the bill go to the Environmental Management Commission, whose members previously complained they\u2019d had no input. O\u2019Hara had led an ad hoc committee of stakeholders after the bill bogged down on a split vote last year.<\/p>\n
Testifiers have been overwhelmingly in favor of the ban.<\/p>\n
The only testifier opposed to the measure Friday was Joy Gold, who represents an Oahu foam food container manufacturer.<\/p>\n
She said the ban doesn\u2019t make sense because the county doesn\u2019t have a compost facility to handle the compostable alternatives. In fact, she said, the polystyrene foam containers are seen as a valuable feedstock for waste-to-energy plants such as one in the works for a site near the Puuanahulu landfill in West Hawaii.<\/p>\n
Gold said East Hawaii businesses buy 80 percent locally distributed polystyrene and 20 percent compostable or other paper-based products. The opposite is true in West Hawaii. Foam food containers account for less than 1 percent of waste in Big Island landfills, she said.<\/p>\n
She said compostable products can cost $40 to $65 more a case containing 200 to 500 units.<\/p>\n
\u201cSmaller mom and pop operators must outlay cash to purchase cases of product in advance of sales,\u201d she said in testimony. \u201cThis impacts thin profit margins and raising the cost of plate lunches is not always a competitive option.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other testifiers disagreed.<\/p>\n
State Sen. Russell Ruderman, D-Puna, speaking as an individual, said it\u2019s been more than 18 years since his Island Naturals stores opened, using almost no polystyrene food containers.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been watching with humor as folks say we can\u2019t do it,\u201d Ruderman said. \u201cIt\u2019s fear-mongering that\u2019s been going on. It\u2019s not reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steve Hirakami, director of Hawaii Academy of Arts &Science Public Charter School, disputed figures provided by opponents. He said his school switched from foam to alternative containers for its 637 students after he saw prices dropping because of more competition among manufacturers.<\/p>\n
While the containers once cost an average of 34 cents compared to 11 or 12 cents for foam, the price has now dropped to 18 cents, he said.<\/p>\n