Thoughts on litter
I agree on the need for residents to conscientiously cover or weigh down self-hauled loads of rubbish that fly out of pickup truck beds (Your Views, March 10).
As a former board member of Keep Hawaii Beautiful, a volunteer litter-control organization that in years past conducted annual “litter index surveys” along island roadways, it might be pointing out the obvious that a lot of litter accumulates along a roughly 1-mile stretch on either approach to most transfer stations.
Having commuted the 27-mile Highway 11 between Volcano and Hilo for over 25 years, I was frequently amazed how someone could get to the transfer station and not notice that one of their bags of household rubbish is sitting somewhere on the roadway, often subject to being run over and split open.
It was not unusual to witness the shredding of wind-blown rubbish by county-operated lawn mowers.
The good news is it used to be a lot worse. Since 2005, the HI5 Beverage Container Recycling program, reduction of single use plastic bags and the reduction in plastic foam food containers all help to mitigate the volume and types of roadside litter.
Having served on several county litter task force and advisory committees over the years, it’s a fact that enforcement of litter ordinances are at the very bottom of policing priorities. So, it’s commendable that our current mayor, while serving in the prosecutor’s office, was instrumental in making available mini-grants to nonprofit volunteer service groups whose mission it was to mobilize citizens to attack issues involving littering and illegal dumping islandwide.
I commend all grassroots organizations that strive to mobilize volunteers to adopt roadways and shorelines in their communities to keep Hawaii Island beautiful.
“Every litter bit hurts.”
Paul J. Buklarewicz
Past board president,
Keep Hawaii Beautiful
Review process?
After reading about the new statue in Lili‘uokalani Park (Tribune-Herald, March 8), I took my granddaughter there to see it.
We like the statue, but it does seem out of place. And as she noted: It’s tiny, compared to the base.
But this got me wondering. Isn’t there a formal public review process of some sort before statues are accepted and placed in a particular location?
Maybe if there had been a public review, the statue would not have surprised regular park visitors.
A. Yamamoto
Hilo