Being in the middle of the Pacific Ocean makes recycling in Hawaii challenging and expensive, and because Hawaii does not have any facilities that process recyclables into new materials, most recyclables collected are/were shipped off island. Until recently glass was shipped to the US mainland with cardboard, newspaper and plastic shipped to China, bi-metal and aluminum cans were shipped to China or Korea. In recent years China has stopped accepting many recyclables, resulting in limited or no markets for many of these materials. 

Elua has offered recycling (paper, glass, plastic, aluminum, and bi-metal cans) throughout the property, with limited success. Because of the limited materials accepted on Maui versus those on the mainland, most of our recycling containers become contaminated with non-accepted materials, resulting in all the materials being disposed of. Our recycling efforts have also come at a large cost, this year we will pay our vendor approximately $38,000 to pick up our recycling materials. In addition, a considerable amount of staff time is dedicated to sorting materials and cleaning these areas and totes.

After careful consideration we have decided to cancel our recycling contract with our vendor. We will purchase our own recycling totes for “HI 5” redeemable beverage containers, which include: soft drinks, soda, juice, tea, coffee drinks, water, beer, malt beverages, mixed spirits and wine coolers in metal/aluminum, glass, and plastic containers. We believe these represent the bulk materials being collected and recycled on property.  We will then donate or contract with a vendor to pick these “HI5” materials up at no cost to the AOAO. Taking this action will reduce costs, including staff labor, heavy truck traffic and the noise and pollution associated, while at the same time keeping as much of these materials out of the waste stream. We also believe this is the greenest decision with the lowest carbon footprint.  We are expecting this change to take place during the month of July.

Maui does not offer curbside recycling like many communities on the mainland. Maui residents can still recycle cardboard, newspaper, glass containers, plastic bottles (1 & 2 only) and aluminum & steel cans at the County’s Recycling Drop Box Centers. We would encourage you to take advantage of these facilities if you have newspaper, carboard, or other non-HI 5 material that can be recycled. The closest center to us is the Kihei Recycling & Redemption Center located at E. Welakahao Road, just off the Piilani Highway.