Shipping of O’ahu garbage to the Mainland has been pushed back yet again, this time until at least the end of April. City and state officials last week said they’ve been told by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that it won’t be until then that Hawaiian Waste Systems LLC gets the OK to send barges of municipal waste from Kalaeloa to the Port of Longview, WA, in the Pacific Northwest to be landfilled.
The company originally anticipated shipping the refuse last October but met with a number of issues, including approval of a compliance agreement with the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which is tasked with regulating the interstate movement of garbage to protect against the spread of pests and diseases. … Councilwoman Ann Kobayashi … said she wants to put Hawaiian Waste on her April committee agenda to ask, among other things, whether it’s time for the city to consider canceling its contract.