MAUI’S
HOMELESS PLASTIC
The
plastic in the following photos, taken January 17, 2003 represent 18 months
of plastic ‘recycling’ collected and hauled from businesses, homes and the
county drop boxes. There are an estimated 400 bales of mixed plastic
sitting in the sun at the Maui Central Baseyard.
From
this perspective it looks like a rock mesa.
From
here, it resembles a canyon.
Some
of the older plastic has rotted in the sun.
The
new stuff isn’t exactly clean.
Maui’s
Central Landfill, aka Pu’u Opala (Mount Garbage) is already receiving 438 tons
of material a day and may end up receiving this unwanted plastic as well.
This photo was taken in September 2002. Maui plows about 250,000 cubic
yards of material into this landfill each year.
Without a
County-run Material Recovery Facility, this will continue to be the fate
of most of Maui’s solid waste.