A Honolulu company has ended its two-month walkout and returned to recycling automobiles, large appliances and other scrap metal for Hawaii County.
Hawaii Metal Recycling Co. wanted a new county contract after it claimed to have lost $693,000 in the last two years due to higher shipping costs and lowered prices for scrap metal.
HMR and the county have reached an agreement that will pay the company the same $22.50 for each ton of metal it ships off island, said Galen Kuba, acting director of the county's Environmental Management Department.
A new provision will allow the contractor to receive more money if the price of fuel and other expenses beyond its control increase, Kuba said.
The contract, when signed, will run through Oct. 14, at which time the county plans to seek new bids for metal recycling, he said.
"We have an agreement in principle," said Lincoln Ashida, the county's top civil attorney. "We expect that something will be reduced to writing in the near future."
Mike Deniz, Kailua transfer station supervisor, said HMR crews on Wednesday returned to draining fluids from some of the 600 junk cars he estimated have accumulated there.
With a few new cars arriving each day, Deniz guessed it will take a couple months to process the stockpile.
"We are back to work, and will be in (the) Hilo landfill tomorrow, and that's all I'm gonna say," James Banigan III, Hawaii Metal Recycling general manager, said.
HMR's return occurred just in time to avoid an overflow of junk automobiles at the Kailua site.
"(In) Hilo at least we have some space so we can temporarily store cars elsewhere, but in Kona we're running out of space," Kuba said.
The county has paid Ken's Towing about $3,500 to move cars to a roughly 3-acre staging area cleared near the Hilo landfill, said Larry Capellas, head of the county's Solid Waste Division.
The county may need to hire a company to return the cars to HMR's work area, he said.
The county does not charge individuals or businesses that bring vehicles and other scrap metal to the Hilo landfill, although that could change, Capellas said.
The administration is considering tipping fees for metal along with trees and other vegetation known as "green waste," he said.
"We're looking at some means to make it equitable," Capellas said, adding some companies deliver tons of green waste to the landfill and pay no tipping fee.
The county charges businesses $35 per ton for other garbage that crosses its scales. There is no cost to dump household refuse. Hawaii Tribune-Herald