Recently the Northern area of the Big Island of Hawaii, in the North Kohala District, people got together for the annual Trash Fashion and Trash Art Work Bash, as well as a recycling workshop. Events like this remind us to be kind to the Earth and fun was had by all who attended the get together.
It isn't always easy to take the time to do the proper things with our trash so Linda Damas hosted a recycling workshop which was free for all who registered for the event. Linda Damas has been active in Recycle Hawaii since its grassroots days in the l980’s. She has represented Recycle Hawaii at local events and given many recycling presentations to schools and civic groups. In 2005-2008, she became one of Hawaii County’s first Recycling Specialists to help implement the State HI5 program on the Big Island. She recently assisted with Recycle Hawaii’s Zero Waste study, which has been adopted by the County’s Department of Environmental Management.
Participant are told to bring a floorplan of their house if they have one and come learn how to set up efficient and user friendly home and recycling with Linda Damas from Recycle Hawaii.
The State of Hawaii's HI5 program is a great sucsess when ever you buy something in a bottle or can that is easily recycled you pay a deposit on the item which you get most of all of the money back if you take your items to the recycle centers near where you live, or the recyclables my be dropped of at a large number of donation points and the recycle credit goes to help community organasations.
There are currently over a dozen states with the deposit program. My question is; why don't we have a recycle deposit program in all 50 states.
Did You Know?
•An aluminum can that is thrown away will still be a can 500 years from now
•Used aluminum beverage cans are the most recycled item in the U.S., but other types of aluminum, such as siding, gutters, car components, storm window frames, and lawn furniture can also be recycled.
•Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours — or the equivalent of a half a gallon of gasoline.
•We use over 80,000,000,000 aluminum soda cans every year.
•To produce each week’s Sunday newspapers, 500,000 trees must be cut down.
•If all our newspaper was recycled, we could save about 250,000,000 trees each year!
•If every American recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we would save about 25,000,000 trees a year.
•The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50,000,000 homes for 20 years.
•The average household throws away 13,000 separate pieces of paper each year. Most is packaging and junk mail. Approximately 1 billion trees worth of paper are thrown away every year in the U.S.
•Each ton (2000 pounds) of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4000 kilowatts of energy, and 7000 gallons of water. This represents a 64% energy savings, a 58% water savings, and 60 pounds less of air pollution!
•Plastic bags and other plastic garbage thrown into the ocean kill as many as 1,000,000 sea creatures every year!
•Recycling plastic saves twice as much energy as burning it in an incinerator.
•A modern glass bottle would take 4000 years or more to decompose — and even longer if it’s in the landfill.
•Mining and transporting raw materials for glass produces about 385 pounds of waste for every ton of glass that is made. If recycled glass is substituted for half of the raw materials, the waste is cut by more than 80%.
•About one-third of an average dump is made up of packaging material!
•Every year, each American throws out about 1,200 pounds of organic garbage that can be composted.
•On average, it costs $30 per ton to recycle trash, $50 to send it to the landfill, and $65 to $75 to incinerate it.
•A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water.
•On average, each one of us produces 4.4 pounds of solid waste each day. This adds up to almost a ton of trash per person, per year.
•A typical family consumes 182 gallons of soda, 29 gallons of juice, 104 gallons of milk, and 26 gallons of bottled water a year. That’s a lot of containers — make sure they’re recycled!
For more information go to: http://www.yourenew.com/ and
http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-facts.html
These recycling facts have been compiled from various sources including the National Recycling Coalition, the Environmental Protection Agency, and Earth911.org.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Hawaii is the Perfect Place for Efficient Renewable Energy
When it comes to alternative energy production, the state of Hawaii has about got it all. An abundance of Sun, Wind, Waves, including both areas with strong currents predictable tides, also enormous Geothermal potential, and let us not forget about enormous feedstock potential for Biodiesel.
In the news story below it is pointed out that the land which is being used on the Big Island of Hawaii for feedstock is land that was once used in the production of sugar cane. Since almost every sugar cane plantation in Hawaii has been closed due to higher labor costs than those in Asia it may be that all of the sugar plantations have closed, at least the big commercial ones anyway. This opens up a tremendous opportunity to use the land that sits idle, to be used for the growing of sunflowers or other plant which have a high oil content and can be readily converted to the production of Biofuels. This is land where about the only thing growing is elephant grass which is a harmful invasive plant.
In the near future I will be doing several stories about the sustainability movement that is going on in Hawaii right now. This will include information about growing a good mix of Agricultural products and buying food that is grown as close to the places where people live as possible. Also Hawaii suffers from high energy costs more that any other State in the Union, making it possible for Solar Power and other forms of alternative energy to have price parity with fossil fuels sooner than that of most other places.Another interesting thing about the new biodiesel plant project is that some of the investors involved in the project are Big Island residents, in the words of Kelly King who is the wife of the company president, "We are finally moving ahead in real time with this project and I thank you all for being an early inspiration in getting our community-based biodiesel model to your island! In fact, we have at least eight B.I. residents so far who are investors in this plant, so it will truly be energy by the people, of the people and for the people".
If any of you would like to know more about this movement in Hawaii in the meantime, or would like to take an active role, please send me an email at anytime I will be happy to hear from as many of you who are interested in these topics as possible.
Biofuel expanding on the Big Island
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 8:59 AM HST
HILO -- A new biodiesel plant that will produce 2.6 million gallons a year is planned for Keaau.
A blessing of the site is scheduled this afternoon within the Shipman Industrial Park.
Now an undeveloped property, a little more than a year from now the Maui-based principals of Pacific Biodiesel and subsidiary Big Island Biodiesel hope to have the $10 million plant producing up to 8,000 gallons of biofuel a day.
"We're in the engineering and permitting phase," said Bob King, the company president. The industrial-zoned parcel was selected because all of the environmental preparation work has been completed, King said.
"Our budget timeline (for construction) is 16 months, and we'll see if we can make it any sooner than that," King said.
Initially, the company will bring used grease and vegetable oil to the Keaau facility from locations statewide, and then shift to the island's promising biofuel crops. Whether that will be sunflowers or jatropha "or what the farmers want to grow" remains to be seen, King said.
Biodiesel is a clean-burning, renewable fuel made using vegetable oils and fats. It's made through a chemical process that converts the oils and vegetables into a fuel that is refined and ready for use in any diesel engine.
The company already has biodiesel plants on Oahu and Maui. King hopes to have one on each island, and also one in West Hawaii to serve Kona's needs.
"This facility can earn its keep on used cooking oil and trap grease while we wait for biofuel crops to mature," King said.
One of those crops is adjacent to the industrial park. Hawaii Pure Plant Oil, run by the father-and-son team of Christian and James Twigg-Smith, has planted a 250-acre jatropha plantation on 1,000 leased acres of former sugar and papaya land. The company plans to crush its first crop of seeds next month.
Big Island Biodiesel isn't limited to that one crop, however. The facility will also be able to process used oils, sunflower oil, algae oil and even fish and animal fats.
Vice President Kelly King, the wife of Bob King, said Mayor Billy Kenoi and Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona are among the more than 70 people who have said they'll attend the 2 p.m. blessing at the parcel, located at 16-240 Mikahala St.
In the last couple of years, the price per gallon of biodiesel was $1.50 less than regular diesel, and at other times 20 to 30 cents more expensive.
"Our (business) model is we try to price it against the cost of production," Kelly King said, adding that customers on other islands appreciated the stable prices. About a dozen permanent jobs are being created; she said the venture would indirectly create a lot more interest and jobs in agriculture.
Big Island Biodiesel has applied for a $500,000 rural agricultural grant from the federal government. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has already given the company a $5 million guaranteed loan.
"Right now, we're in the engineering phase," Kelly King said. The $10 million estimate was made when prices were higher a couple years ago. It's possible that the project may come in under the original price tag, she said.
"It's just very exciting to have a project moving," she said.
In the news story below it is pointed out that the land which is being used on the Big Island of Hawaii for feedstock is land that was once used in the production of sugar cane. Since almost every sugar cane plantation in Hawaii has been closed due to higher labor costs than those in Asia it may be that all of the sugar plantations have closed, at least the big commercial ones anyway. This opens up a tremendous opportunity to use the land that sits idle, to be used for the growing of sunflowers or other plant which have a high oil content and can be readily converted to the production of Biofuels. This is land where about the only thing growing is elephant grass which is a harmful invasive plant.
In the near future I will be doing several stories about the sustainability movement that is going on in Hawaii right now. This will include information about growing a good mix of Agricultural products and buying food that is grown as close to the places where people live as possible. Also Hawaii suffers from high energy costs more that any other State in the Union, making it possible for Solar Power and other forms of alternative energy to have price parity with fossil fuels sooner than that of most other places.Another interesting thing about the new biodiesel plant project is that some of the investors involved in the project are Big Island residents, in the words of Kelly King who is the wife of the company president, "We are finally moving ahead in real time with this project and I thank you all for being an early inspiration in getting our community-based biodiesel model to your island! In fact, we have at least eight B.I. residents so far who are investors in this plant, so it will truly be energy by the people, of the people and for the people".
If any of you would like to know more about this movement in Hawaii in the meantime, or would like to take an active role, please send me an email at anytime I will be happy to hear from as many of you who are interested in these topics as possible.
Biofuel expanding on the Big Island
Wednesday, February 3, 2010 8:59 AM HST
HILO -- A new biodiesel plant that will produce 2.6 million gallons a year is planned for Keaau.
A blessing of the site is scheduled this afternoon within the Shipman Industrial Park.
Now an undeveloped property, a little more than a year from now the Maui-based principals of Pacific Biodiesel and subsidiary Big Island Biodiesel hope to have the $10 million plant producing up to 8,000 gallons of biofuel a day.
"We're in the engineering and permitting phase," said Bob King, the company president. The industrial-zoned parcel was selected because all of the environmental preparation work has been completed, King said.
"Our budget timeline (for construction) is 16 months, and we'll see if we can make it any sooner than that," King said.
Initially, the company will bring used grease and vegetable oil to the Keaau facility from locations statewide, and then shift to the island's promising biofuel crops. Whether that will be sunflowers or jatropha "or what the farmers want to grow" remains to be seen, King said.
Biodiesel is a clean-burning, renewable fuel made using vegetable oils and fats. It's made through a chemical process that converts the oils and vegetables into a fuel that is refined and ready for use in any diesel engine.
The company already has biodiesel plants on Oahu and Maui. King hopes to have one on each island, and also one in West Hawaii to serve Kona's needs.
"This facility can earn its keep on used cooking oil and trap grease while we wait for biofuel crops to mature," King said.
One of those crops is adjacent to the industrial park. Hawaii Pure Plant Oil, run by the father-and-son team of Christian and James Twigg-Smith, has planted a 250-acre jatropha plantation on 1,000 leased acres of former sugar and papaya land. The company plans to crush its first crop of seeds next month.
Big Island Biodiesel isn't limited to that one crop, however. The facility will also be able to process used oils, sunflower oil, algae oil and even fish and animal fats.
Vice President Kelly King, the wife of Bob King, said Mayor Billy Kenoi and Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona are among the more than 70 people who have said they'll attend the 2 p.m. blessing at the parcel, located at 16-240 Mikahala St.
In the last couple of years, the price per gallon of biodiesel was $1.50 less than regular diesel, and at other times 20 to 30 cents more expensive.
"Our (business) model is we try to price it against the cost of production," Kelly King said, adding that customers on other islands appreciated the stable prices. About a dozen permanent jobs are being created; she said the venture would indirectly create a lot more interest and jobs in agriculture.
Big Island Biodiesel has applied for a $500,000 rural agricultural grant from the federal government. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has already given the company a $5 million guaranteed loan.
"Right now, we're in the engineering phase," Kelly King said. The $10 million estimate was made when prices were higher a couple years ago. It's possible that the project may come in under the original price tag, she said.
"It's just very exciting to have a project moving," she said.
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