Landfill Problem on O’ahu and Kaua’i
November 16th, 2009 by 
Liz Castillo
Click on the link to read the article about the landfill problem on our islands. Please respond in the comment section on what you think and what solutions you think we need to solve this problem. How would you react if the plan was to put a landfill in your neighborhood? Also, comment about what you thought about our visit to Waimanalo Gulch landfill.
Response Due by Nov. 23
Click here for link: http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/global/story.asp?s=9077420
Picture from: http://www.roydoty.com/posters-editorial…
Posted in Sustainability | 
109 Comments »
October 27th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Usually, on the news you would hear things about landfills and trash on Oahu. That made me feel sad. But now that I know Oahu isn’t the only island that has problems, it makes me feel even more determined to spread the word of recycling reusing and reducing. I mean to even have the thought of having trash all around my house or yard, I mean that is just so unsanitary. And, 500000 tons of waste being dumped into landfills per year, that makes us look very bad. So we should all do something about it, RECYCLE, REUSE, AND REDUCE!!!
November 17th, 2009 at 8:30 am
There is a lot of trash and rubbish on Oahu and Kauai, we didn’t care about it or some of use didn’t even know how bad the situation was. If we don’t start doing the 3 r’s then were probably going to be living in trash over the years. Do you guys even know how much 5000000 tons of waste is, well maybe not but thats like the weight of 500 whales. I really don’t want to live in trash, seriously I’d rather go through all this, then go through with smelling and seeing, and maybe even living in trash, its very scary.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:47 am
I think we have a problem. We put ourselves in this mess and we have to get out of it. Now we have to have more landfills even though we shouldn’t have to. We are so spoiled. We waste and trash our stuff and we don’t do anything until it becomes a problem.
November 17th, 2009 at 9:40 am
This article tells us we need to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Knowing that our landfill in Oahu is running out of space is one thing but knowing that Kaui has the same problem is worse. Their options of more landfill space is going to Kekaha and building a new landfill site there. The problem is trash would be landing in other peoples backyard. I Wouldn’t want that happening to me. The fact that we are using up landfill space saddens me. It tells me that we don’t care about our island and environment. I think we should think about what we throw away. This means we need to Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle !!!!!!!!!!!
November 17th, 2009 at 9:44 am
I think we should reduce reuse and recycle!!! LIke Mitchelle Musso yah! I think we waste too much and we need to be aware that if we keep this up we will die and live off of garbage!!! I dont want to but we will have no choice!!! so yah reduce reuse and recycle!!!
November 17th, 2009 at 10:34 am
I think that it is pretty sad to know that our island is having some issues about landfills and trash. I am happy though that we are not the only island. I think that we should all go by the 3 r’s which is reduce, reuse and recycle and hopefully things will change around here. I also hope that no other islands will struggle as well.
November 17th, 2009 at 10:34 am
It was really cool to see and hear about waimanalo gulch because we went to go see it recently. On the other hand though I am sad because of all the trash and all of our waste that is just filling all of the landfills in Oahu and Kauai.
TAKE CARE OF OUR LAND!
November 17th, 2009 at 10:35 am
The waste that we have on our island is going to take years to stop we need to reduce, recycle and reuse because the Waimanalo Gluch is a mountain of trash.
November 17th, 2009 at 10:37 am
what i think about this is that people should think about the land, because if they dont we will waste our time odin all this work they should think about the economy more . everything is not al about them, i hope they try to help the landfills in kaua’i and oahu because it help our lifes.
November 17th, 2009 at 10:37 am
I believe that we should get another landfill. I also believe that where ever the council is thinking about putting the new landfill people should not fight with them and just help other people out. In the new location of the landfill it will be stink but in the long run it will help out everyone on Oahu. Just think, we pay taxes to possibly ship our trash to the United States.I don’t think anyone wants to pay a bunch of taxes to ship their own trash.Some solutions to our problem is to not waste so much, or someone needs to give up a little part of their community to help our others.
Malama,to care for and make sacrifices for each other. IMUA!
November 17th, 2009 at 10:38 am
We need to GO GREEN!!!!! Thankfully we arent the only island to have lots of waste, however we need to reduce the amount of waste we produce. REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE GO GREEN!!!!
November 17th, 2009 at 10:38 am
well its kinda sad knowing that Kauai and Oahu is having some landfill problems. but i think the only thing we can do is not dispose of so much things and help our landfill problems. it would also help if everyone in the world recycled and took care of our land!!!! lets help out and GO GREEN
!!!!
November 17th, 2009 at 10:39 am
I think we should recycle. We need to do things so that we don`t fill up landfills and use up land. We as people are wasting to much rubbish. 500000 tons of waste is too much. We are killing the earth and the land. In time, the earth will be a contaminated place. Its not good for the earth.
November 17th, 2009 at 10:39 am
This landfill problem doesn’t seem like a big problem but, in reality it is. Our landfills are filling up quickly and we are running out paces to put it. Not only is it a problem on O’ahu but, also on the island of Kauai. There landfill is filling up more quickly than ours so we need to do our part to help prevent this from happening again. We need to recycle more things and we need to try to use less things that can’t be recycled. Our world is at stake and we need to do our part to save this precious planet we live on.
November 17th, 2009 at 10:40 am
I can’t believe we waste 500,00 tons of waste each year. Man that is crazy. I think we do need another place for a landfill. One landfill can’t hold 500,00 tons of waste each year. That is a lot!!!
November 17th, 2009 at 10:40 am
I think that this is a very good plan to start reducing our use of our resources so that we won’t dry the Earth like a sponge. I hope that people will be able to see what were doing and change it before it’s too late. I think that I will start recycling my plastics. I already recycle cans, but I think it’s going to be able to help a lot of people. YAAAAAAY EARTH!
November 17th, 2009 at 10:41 am
I think that it is not a good idea to put a landfill in Kekaha because it is could cause a lot of problems for the residents. Like they said they don’t want to smell trash in their backyard. What the county should do is find an alternative way to get the trash amount to go down. It is amazing that we produce 500,000 tons of trash a year. We need to recycle!
November 17th, 2009 at 10:42 am
I heard a lot about the waste problems in Oahu, but I had no idea it was just as bad on Kauai! People dump 500,000 tons of trash there each year! Just think of what our ancestors would say if they saw what we were living like! They would be sad and ashamed of us for not caring for the aina. We should all work to reduce our waste, reuse what we can, and recycle things we can’t!
November 17th, 2009 at 10:57 am
I would be very irritated if I had to live near a dump. While I was reading this article, I thought about our Hawaiian ancestors. They didn’t waste anything and tried to save our environment. Now days, we waste 500,000 tons each year. This is like mountains of trash that just hurts our environment. We need to change our wasteful ways and start to be more resourceful. Instead of having to buy everything we need to recycle. I think we need more of those machines that use our trash and change it to H-Power.
November 17th, 2009 at 11:27 am
I think when people see all the waste we our making it make us look really bad and it gives us a bad reputation. We need to cut down on the waste and recycle much more. If we continue to do what we are doing we are going to mess up our world.
November 17th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
I learned many things from this article. I realised that our trash is a mulit-island problem. In one year we make over 500,000 tons of trash. Our problem is so bad that we have to sent some of your trash to the main land. We can all do a difference. If we all reduce, reuse, and recycal some of our trash we can save the environment and our kind.
November 17th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
I think that it is important for everyone to recycle and reduce our waste because of we don’t we only have more landfills. The landfill on Oahu was an example of what will happen if we continue to not recycle. The landfill only shows us more why we need to recycle more, reduce the amount of our waste, and spread the word of recycling. In the future the problem might escalate and we may be known for our trash. This is why we need to change our ways.
November 17th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
i think that we the people must quickly stop. We have gone to far to the point where we need another landfill. If we stop wasting so much resources then we will live a better life where we don’t need to take all the resources until there is no more. So if we save resources we will live a better life
November 17th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
it is a really big problem with all of the trash that our islands are producing. I think that it is quite unfortunate that we waste so much stuff. We really need to promote reusing, reducing and recycling. If I lived by the area the landfills are by I would be grossed out, all of the trash of my island in my back yard that is just sick. If I were those people i would tell everyone I know to recycle. We create 500,000 pounds of trash that is really sad who knows what it will be like in the future I don’t want to make live in trash. COME ON PEOPLE RECYCLE!!!
November 17th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
I think that this is a big problem to ‘Oahu and Kaua‘i because if we run out of places we might be in a big problem
November 17th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Truthfully, I feel that Hawai‘i is one of the most wasteful cities I have ever seen. We are producing more than 500,000 TONS of waste a year and that is so wasteful. I bet major cities are wasting about half of what we do and the part about that, that is so ironic is that the other cities that are having very little waste are more than twice our size! There has to be a misunderstanding in that because people in the mainland are much more conservative and much less wasteful than we are. I bet in the future there may be a point in time where we are going to have trash rolling around in our streets and our houses… Then we are going to complain to the mayor or the governor and its our fault! But by the time everyone gets to understand that, its going to be too late… So we need to educate everyone as much as we can now!!!
November 17th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
We need to find a new place to put our trash and be more thoughtful of what we recycle and what we can only throw away. If we we thought about it we would take a longer time to fill up the landfills and we wouldn’t have this problem. Our kupuna were akamai and followed the rules which conserved everything to preserve it for the future. If we all donate a little to help with basic stuff like recycling and using CFLs we could solve the problem for while. Thank you.
November 17th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
WOW!!! We waste that much waste each year. (500,000 tons) Because of this our land fills are filling up so fast and the islands has to find other ways to get rid out trash. I know I want to protect my planet and start finding ways to help reducing the 500,000 tons of trash. I will start recycling to reduce, reuse, and recycle, so we don’t let our earth die. What will you do?
November 17th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
I think that it is very scary that we use and waste that much trash on both island, on O’ahu and Kaua’i. I also think that we should watch what we waste and recycle as much we can. We can also reuse and stop buying things so that we can help stop the trash problem and also help global warming. If we all help out and do what we can I think we can stop and decrease how much we give in to the landfills. 500,000 tons is so much as we can improve by lowering that number. If we all try I think it really is possible.
November 17th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
I never knew that Kauai had a landfill problem, i thought that it was just Oahu. I think that we need to conserve more and watch what we put into out trash cans because they could be recyclable. And when we dump 500,000 tons of waste that is so sad because about 25% of that is like recyclable plastics and other things. We should all follow the three Rs. Reduce, Reuse, and recycle.
November 17th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
I think that its not smart that we even have that much rubbish we shouldn’t have made that waste in the first place so it’s not where were gonna put the trash but instead just stop the problem before it happens.
November 17th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
i think it is definetly time to start thinking of a way to recycle every thing that we have. One way we could probably do it is to suck all the air out of the trash and turn it in to things we use in our daily lives. I liked the field trip and i think they have a great idea as to burning the trash and turning it in to dirt.
November 17th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
I thought that we need to reduce the amount of waste we make by reducing, reusing, and recycling. I think that we should do it so that we don’t need to take much space in the landfill. It is good that the residents are okay with the sound of the landfill. We need to dispose or trash somehow and I think we need another landfill
November 17th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
I am surprised that the beautiful island of kauai also has problems with there land fills. I cant believe how much tons of waste we produce every year, ITS TOO MUCH! I would like to help on saving the earth also because if we keep this up, instead of swimming in the sea, we will be swimming in trash. I learned a lot from the tour at waimanalo gulch, I learned how the cycle works, how they find more land to put there our trash on, and how it is constructed. I hope that everyone will have the great opportunity that me and my fellow class mates had and learn from it so we can all make the world a happy and healthier planet.
November 17th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
This was a very interesting article.I do to REDUCE, REUSE AND RECYCLE=]
November 17th, 2009 at 4:19 pm
The land fills on kauai are overflowing. people on kauai aren’t recycling as much so the landfills are over flowing when I hear this i just don’t understand it. If you go to the dump in princeville there is things to recycle paper, cardboard, cans, bottles, etc. i hope that this is resolved soon.
November 17th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
I would have expected that this article would talk more about the landfill on Oahu because even though the one on Kauai is older, the one on oahu gets more waste input everyday. I am personally affected everyday that i am at home because I live very close to the landfill on Kauai and I hear the garbage trucks going by my house every night and that is kind of how i go to sleep every night.
November 17th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
The fact that the state of Hawaii makes 500,000 pounds of waste and we are supposed to be saving the land and not contributing to it’s global warming. I don’t think that it is very fair to the earth that it let us live on it for all these years and now we abuse it by not using our resources wisely.
November 17th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
The thing that surprised me the most was that we might have to expand the land fill that is just horrible. I think that if a land fill i full then thats telling us something, we need to stop wasting stuff that doesn’t need to be wasted. Also if a land fill takes 7 years to develop then lest stop wasting and not need to have one until 7 years.
I know that it is almost impossible to not waste atoll, but it is very possible to waste less. So Hawaii should STOP WASTING STUFF!
November 17th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
That is sad that even on another island that people are wasting even more, so that they have to build another site that could take at least 4 years. My family and I recycle all of our bottles and cans. I would agree with that fact that we need to recycle, I mean look needing to have a second dump is just going to lead on to a third dump if people don’t recycle. So I agree that we should all ;earn something from this and change are ways for the good of Hawaii.
November 17th, 2009 at 5:19 pm
I think that we shouldn’t wast this much rubbish 500,000 is a lot of rubbish to be wasting. If we didn’t wast as much then we could do something better about that land that has all the rubbish on them. I think that we should be more careful about wasting and we should recycle more so we could reuse what we wast and make are wast level go down. If everybody got to see all the rubbish that we are producing then I think that they would be a little more careful about there wast. They should start to use things that are does not make a lot of rubbish. WE ALL SHOULD GO MORE GREEN!!!!!
November 17th, 2009 at 5:51 pm
i think this is a good article because it tells about the landfills on our islands. I don’t like landfills because it endangers the environment. It also endangers wildlife such as birds. It also poisons our earth.If we did not have landfills though, we would have to burn it.
November 17th, 2009 at 6:04 pm
I think that as the people of Oahu we should be able to take care of our island by not using products that can’t be recycled. I also think that if we throw away the things that need to be thrown away and recycle the products that are recyclable then cause less pollution to our environment and everything else around us.
November 17th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
I do not think that expanding is the answer because we will run out of space and we are also trashing these beautiful island and i think we should make a law that will make it illigeal to dump so many pounds of trash per month and if they break the law they have a fine i think that would lower the amount of land fills we need. I think 500,000 tons of waste is way to much waste we should realy cut down the amount of waste we have. I think that we should just stop expanding our landfills because that doesnt solve anything because we will eventualy run out of room i think we should use the 3 RRRs reduce reuse and recycle.
November 17th, 2009 at 6:36 pm
It’s bad that we waste 500,000 tons a year.The two islands that are having trouble with the landfills are O‘ahu and Kau‘ai. Everyone should Reduce, Reuse Recycle, in order to help the landfills, right now it’s not looking good.
November 17th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
People these days are learning to reduce reuse and recycle but, the thing is that not enough people are doing this that’s why on Kauai. Their trying to find a new landfill quick cause there’s to much trash also that’s why on Hawaii at Waimanalo Gulch are trying to extend cause there’s to much trash. Also because there’s 500,000 tons of waste there each year WOW!!!! That’s a whole lot of trash so Recycle.
November 17th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
We have too much trash on this planet. I think its sad how much waste we have and how it is affecting our planet. We have resorted to burying all our trash because there is too much to keep on land and would stink up the place. That”s not right. We all need to work together to help save our planet, our home. However I do see one benefit from this, it gives people jobs which means more people get money and can survive. We dump 500,000 tons of waste at Waimanalo Gulch each year, that’s a lot. so we need to work together to help save our resources and to stop all of that waste to help the earth before it’s to late. what can you do to help the planet?
November 17th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
I dont think we should use the land and find another landfill just to throw rubbish. This is a major problem to Oahu. But after reading this article I feel a little more frustrated that there is more than just Oahu that has this problem. “Come on people”
Including me. We should all help reduce this problem by Reducing, Reusing, and Recycling. Try your best to help the planet and Hawaii.
November 17th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
I think we should do and encourage others to waste less (reduce) reuse old things (Hand-me-downs, old school supplies, ect.) and recycle more. Our trash problem makes me feel so wasteful and sad. I am surprised that we waste 500,000 tons of trash a year. Go Green, save the earth, live life.
November 17th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
Before we went on the Trash De Tour field trip, I didn’t know that there were landfills on other islands. I thought that there was only a landfill on ‘Oahu. That’s how much I didn’t care about the land and about saving our planet. Now, I’m trying to make a difference, but with everyone just throwing away everything there will be no more time to make a difference. I feel sad that the other islands are being destroyed because of everyone’s mistake of throwing away things. It’s time to MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!! =)
November 17th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
On Kauai i have heard about the waste problem that we have had and that also goes with the oahu dump so we need to change that so some of the things that we could do to stop that is to recycle more and to not throw away recycle able items.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
Now, that i know about Kauai and Oahu that have problems with landfills and trash, i feel sad. I wish everyone would start to recycle more and reuse. It makes us look so bad with 500,000 tons of trash being dumped per year. That makes us look so very bad. I just hope that their choice of where they will make the landfill is right. It is going to be very helpful and it will be so much better then having it in their back yard. I wouldn’t want to have trash filled in my backyard. If people recycle more, reduce more, and reuse more that we wouldn’t be in this problem so much, and we won’t look as bad because we are wasting a smaller amount of trash. I would be so happy if people reused, recycled, and reduced more. So, RECYCLE, REDUCE, AND REUSE!!!!
November 17th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Its very reduntant of us to continue wasting all of our items even though we know about the effect it has on our Earth. I would not be able to imagine what outcomes of a landfill being stationed in my neighborhood would. I know without a doubt that this would undeniably effect my life. The foul smell of rotten materials and food would flow through the inner parts of my home and would cause a malodorous stench that would strive throughout the structure of my dwelling.
November 17th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
The news have been lately focusing about trash. Trash is taking over our earth and later in the future our whole earth will be filled with what we waste. If we do the same things as we do now, then our planet will soon die. In this article, I was able to learn that Oahu and Kauai both have problems with dealing with our trash. If we tell others what we can do to have less trash then I think that we will have less trash. Also during this article I was able to learn that 500,000 tons of trash is being dumped into your yard, my yard, everyone’s yard. We should try our hardest to reuse, recycle, and reduce items we use everyday.
November 17th, 2009 at 9:28 pm
I think that this story is very sad because it is telling us that we are wasting too much and not recycling or trying to help the environment.It makes me feel angry to see what we are doing and how its affecting the islands landfills and in general the earth. From reading this article, it sends the message that we should all try to recycle and reduce the amount of our waste. If we keep on living the way we are now and don’t change our ways, then we will have an even bigger problem to deal with. That is why we should start changing our ways as soon as we can.
November 17th, 2009 at 9:51 pm
After visiting Waimanalo Gulch i realized how much things we actually waste. When you first think about it, it doesn’t seem like much. But looking at the landfill, there was so much. We are not the only island that is wasting. It makes me wonder what we use that can be recycled/reused instead of just throwing it away. I know that half of the things i have wasted in the past probably could’ve been reused. I say we all do something about it and DON’T WASTE!!!!
November 17th, 2009 at 9:57 pm
This is very sad for Kauai. We usually hear that Oahu has many problems, but this whole recycling and waste thing is affecting other islands too. Building another landfill is not easy, and people do not want that done. The three R’s, reduce, reuse and recycle, are really big at this time. We really need to create less waste. Our economy is being affected big time because we don’t know how to control our waste. Having as much waste as 500,000 tons of waste put into landfills a year makes us look bad as a people, and makes the economy worse too. If we can recycle more, and create less waste we can find many solutions to the problems that we have today. We all need to do our part, and reduce, reuse, and recycle. USE THE THREE R’S!
November 17th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
I can’t believe that we waste SOOO MUCH!I think that we can reduce our trash a lot by just recycling.If we recycle more i think we would have more room for our other trash.Everybody should start caring for the earth because if we keep on poisoning the earth,then we won’t have anyplace to survive.
November 18th, 2009 at 6:09 am
In this report, I couldn’t believe how much trash Hawaii produces. Now that I’ve seen a trash dump, I can’t believe that we need to create another one. I think everyone should start to cut back on wasting. I also think everyone should recycle, and reuse things that can be used again. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Today, in our society we waste to much. We just keep wasting wasting wasting wasting and wasting. I think that this island problem should awake some people out there to start following the three R’s. I mean sooner or later their won’t be enough area for our trash, and it will be put somewhere else. Our homes might become our own garbage dumps. Remember,”JUST DON’T WASTE.”
November 18th, 2009 at 7:32 am
It is very important that you recycle the most that you can. They are running out of space in the world for trash. So what i think is that if you don’t want YOUR trash in your backyard then make less of it. I think that for one month people should do an experiment and for one month they keep all of their trash in their back yard to see what WILL happen if they keep on wasting as much as they do.
November 18th, 2009 at 8:14 am
I think we should go green but the Waimanalo Gulch is doing a good job keeping the trash together but we should help them out by recycling.
November 18th, 2009 at 8:15 am
I think that recycling is the best way to help because it if you don’t recycle then it takes up lots of the landfill. We produce 500,000,000 million waste in a year. I think this is to much waste people just GO GREEN!!!:D:D I know that the more waste we have the more less space we have to live.
November 18th, 2009 at 8:17 am
It is important that we go green and recycle which would then reduce waste. Also it would good if we turned our waste into energy.
November 18th, 2009 at 8:34 am
Wow, 500,000 tons of waste dumped each year? Thats crazy!!!! Thats kinda a problem because somethings we could recycle but we throw it all away. Dumping so much waste that we have to find another site? Wow i can’t believe it,DON’T WASTE.
November 18th, 2009 at 11:01 am
I am very sad that yearly we waste 500,000 tons. I am glad though that we are not the only island with a waste problem. I can’t believe that the landfill here and on Kauai are almost full. Soon people will have to keep all of our waste in our backyard. Everybody needs to recycle more. We need to reduce, reuse, and recycle!
November 18th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
I think he is cool because he was able to keep all his trash for 18 months. I also think that the wife must be a really good wife to let him do the experiment.
November 18th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
I think that people don’t realize these days that our economy is getting more frustrating. They don’ t think that what they do now doesn’t effect the future. Like landfills are overflowing,and that we need to REDUCE, REUSE, AND RECYCLE! save our planet, and don’t be an earth killer!
November 18th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
I think it’s sad that its not only happening on O’ahu but on Kawaii, too. Reading this makes me feel like I should do more to help.Like maybe burning some of the rubbish. It’s also important that we recycle and throw away less waste possible.
November 18th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
This shows that our islands are too small for the things we waste. If the trash continues to pile everyday, it will become overwhelming. We have little space, and we keep buying and throwing away too much. If we use only what we need, and stop buying unnecessary items, the waste level might go down, and we wouldn’t need to build more landfills.
November 18th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
I think that this reflects what we do with our trash. I also think that we should compost some of our food trash and recycle to reduce some of the trash that goes in our landfills. If we do this there would be less trash in our landfills and we probably wouldn’t have this problem.
November 18th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
I think the big problem here is that we create more trash than we can handle. The trash we make is just taking up space, and it’s not helping us in any way. If we keep living like this, then we’ll end up living on our trash, or having to move because the trash takes up our whole island. I think that if we reduce the amount of trash we create just by a little, then we could really change things, and we won’t have to worry about trash taking over our lives.
November 18th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
I think its so sad to find out that more than one island is affected by the trash fields. When we went on the field trip it felt like the Waimanalo Gulch wasn’t even full. It looked so empty. Then, the spokes person said we waste about 500,000 tons and i was like, “WOW!!”. I was so atsonished. Do you know how much that is thats like, well im not sure but that seems alot. We need to save the aina and keep the Hawaiian race alive. So reduce, reuse and recycle. So we can save the Hawaiian islands(:
November 18th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
I think we are wasting a lot of trash. We are running out of places to put our trash. We will keep making more and more landfills until we run out of space. That’s why right now we need to be more sustainable and waste less trash. Something we need to do to help create less trash is to make sure you recycle what you can. We need to be more sustainable.
November 18th, 2009 at 7:25 pm
I think that we should start to reduce, reuse, and recycle. We should also cut down on trash in the first place. It takes a long time to create new landfills and finding a place to put the landfill. At Waimanalo Gulch there was 500,000 tons! We really need to cut down.
If we do cut down on trash and use the three R’s, our world will become a better place for everyone! (:
November 18th, 2009 at 7:45 pm
I think its sad that we waste so much. We waste 500,000 tons of waste a year and that is a lot. What makes it worse is that we being an island have a very limited space to put or waste. So if everyone just tries a little bit too not create trash then maybe we can make a difference but if we continue or wasteful ways then soon there might be trash everywhere in or streets, homes, schools ect. This is not a joke it really could happen so try to do something about it now.:)
November 18th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
I think this article is good to know about because it can help others about how much waste we have in Hawai’i. Therefore it might convince people to go green.
November 18th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
This articule is telling me that we the people who actully live in Hawaii and kauai don’t care much for what we throw away and it makes me sad. This makes me sad because everyone says “yeah we need to recycle and go green” but their missing the big picture. Their missing what they are throwing in their in their own trash?. If we keep throwing things away and we don’t pay attention then we are slowly going to kill our planet and we are not going to have any where to live that means were all going to die!
Anyways we all should pay attention to what we throw away and be aware of what can be recycled and REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE:) Malama i ka AiNA
November 18th, 2009 at 9:26 pm
Within the past couple of years the news has been talking about how ‘Oahu does not know if our landfill will be able to accept trash for much longer. Reading this showed me that everyone else is also struggling with the problem of not enough space to store all of the waste we produce. I was really surprised to hear that we waste 500,000 tons of waste. This really makes us look like wasteful people. We need to think about how this will affect us later in life, if everyone had thought about recycling 10 or 20 years ago, we would not be in as big of a mess as we are today. I believe that we should make another landfill here rather than be shipping our trash to mainland. Shipping it outside costs a fortune, and what would happen when eventually their landfill gets full? The trip to Waimanalo Gulch showed me that there is a lot more to the landfill then we imagine. The amount of time it takes just to build one is very long, and I could see the process of what happens from the time that your rubbish enters the gates, to when it is actually put in the ground.
November 19th, 2009 at 8:17 am
We mostly only hear about the problems on Oʻahu, but now we are hearing about other problems. We are drowning in our garbage. We need to clean up our mess. If you donʻt like living in a dirty room, then you got to keep it clean.
November 19th, 2009 at 8:38 am
Knowing that 500,000 tons of waste is being dumped in Waimanalo Gulch each year by the people of Hawaii is Preposterous . Land is very important, it must be saved instead of used. We are supposed to be stopping global warming, not help spread it. Everyone should understand that we are killing our planet, if we continue this then we will eventually all die. Lets hope for everyones sake that they will get this through there thick heads before its too late. But for all the people who actually want to help stop this, then you should do the 3 r’s: reduce, reuse, and recycle.
November 19th, 2009 at 9:06 am
i think it is ridiculous that we have 500,000 tons of waste per year. we’ll kill our planet if we keep this up. people need to work on being green instead of wasting and destroying our land. like our ancestors, we need to be stewards of the land. we need to take care of the aīna and the aīna will take care of us.
November 19th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
The problem is that we are producing more waste than the planet can hold. A lot of different landfills are filling up, tot he point where they need to be expanded. To solve this problem I think we need to reduce, reuse, and recycle. I don’t want to have a landfill in my back yard, because its going to be smelly. Who really wants to live in that situation?So we should reduce our waste.
November 19th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
I am very surprised because we dump 500,000 tons of trash. We seriously need start recycling and reusing. I know we can do it, its not that hard. If we don’t start going green, we could turn the word into something that nobody would want it to be. Us humans have a bad habit on throwing things away when we could be reusing. SO GO START RECYCLING AND REUSING. Mahalo
November 19th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
I canʻt belive that we waist 500,000 tons of waist a year that is SO MUCH! I think that the only way we can do some good things about this is to START RECYCLING our cans, bottles, cardboard, ect. We can cut down on our waist if we can just do these things. The Kauai and Oahu landfills are over flowing and we have to start doing some thing. I think we should teach people about how to reduce there trash and how to be green. If we do this it can help the earth. For our field trip it was different then others but I really learned a lot about sustaiability. We all have to help to REDUCE, REUSE, AND RECYCLE! ☺
November 19th, 2009 at 8:03 pm
I can’t believe we dump that much trash. I think we should really start recycling more and finding other things to do with the trash instead of dumping it. If we keep dumping trash like how we are now, soon the whole world will be a dump just filled with trash. It also must be junk to have a dump by were you live. It would smell!
November 19th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
I am amazed at the amount of waste that we dump into landfills each year, and it makes me sick to think that most of that stuff will be there forever. Right now we are using up more resources than our earth can supply and store. Unless we start to use and apply the Three Rʻs into our lives, our earth will become just one big dump.
November 20th, 2009 at 7:00 am
What is happening is that we are filling the land fills with more than it can hold, and it is consuming more, and more of our land. We either need to recycle, or throw out less, because 500,000 tons of waste is crazy. If this continues, it will use up pretty much all of the land. So, we need to start to recycle, and quickly.
November 20th, 2009 at 8:39 am
I thought we were he only island with so much waste but when i read this article i was surprised at the huge waste amount. 500,000 tons a year. With that massive amount people are getting worried that they might lose their homes. I know I wouldnt want to lose my home, just that impact has effected many people and are making them think to go green.
November 20th, 2009 at 8:44 am
I have to say thats a lot of trash to put into a landfill. I’m not suprised that the landfill on Kauai is full. I think we need to get better and recycle more trash and be more aware of what we are throwing away. RECYCLE!:) magical!!:)
November 20th, 2009 at 9:19 am
i think it would be okay to put another landfill so we donʻt have to ship our trash to other countries. i also think it wont be go because then there will be less lands for people to live or even plant anything for future reference.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:56 am
I think that the landfill was a good idea because it will show us how much waste we throw away. We will get to realize how important it is to take care of our land, and to watch what we throw away. We need to reduce, reuse, and recycle our things. I can’t believe that we waste 500,000 tons of waste a year. So we need to protect the land.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:56 am
500,000 tons, wow thats a lot of trash. Wow many of us really need to go green and need to start recycling.i dont understand how we could waste so much and finnaly notice RIGHT NOW!!! amaizing.
November 20th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
I had no idea about the waste on Kaua’i! Look at us so selfish to think about our island’s waste. There are other islands that need some green help as well. Kaua’i has 500,000 tons of waste, that’s a lot of waste!! We shouldn’t use, “It’s not our island waste, it’s not our problem” as an excuse, because it’s not acceptable. We still are responsible because as a state we need to contribute to help Hawaii’s waste. Lets all make a change!!
November 20th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
kay, well i know that theres problems that are going on with the landfills, but if we think about it, we wouldn’t need landfills if we just recycled and didn’t waste. I think that if they don’t want to expand and add to the landfill, they should make products that can ALL be recycled. If we all try our best to go 100% green, then we will be closer to the land like our ancestors were. I think that we waste WAAAAAAAAAAY too much each year, we should try to cut back at least half of the average amount per year.
I MUA; and go green (: teehee.
November 20th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
We are wasteful people as we all can see because we waste a lot of trash. We need to start to think more about what we can do to stop producing so much trash so that later in the future we wont have problems like this any more. I know that making only one land fill takes a lot of time, but i think its worth it to make another land fill here so we dont have to be shipping it off to somewhere else. If we do make another land fill we also have to make sure that we’re using the three Rs (reuse, reduce, recycle) so the land fill doesnt get that filled. CHEEHEE
November 21st, 2009 at 2:48 pm
this was a great exxcersion because we learned allot about what we have to do with our trash. The main thing we have to do is just sort it and recycle.
November 22nd, 2009 at 3:03 pm
We need to stop making that much trash so that we don’t run out of space to put our trash. Once we run out of space, there is nothing that we can do to solve the problem but stop making trash We really need to be more sustainable.
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:34 pm
WoW!! 500,00 tons of waste. Thats a lot of rubish for a small island. I think that we should start using the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle) becasue if we don’t star now we are going to be living on a dump!
November 22nd, 2009 at 6:44 pm
I think the article is trying to tell us that we need to start making better choices because if we have that much waste then we need to recycle, reuse, and don’t waste. So everybody GO GrEeN :0 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:07 pm
I think that it is a good idea to make less trash in the first place, verses having to find a bigger place for all the trash. If people stop wasting so much resources than we wonʻt have as much trash and we wonʻt have to find a new place to store trash. From my point of view, itʻs a win win situation. We waste less, it helps the environment and we donʻt need to live with trash in our backyards. My advice to everyone is to just waste less. If we buy reusables it will make life easier, and the planet healthier.
November 23rd, 2009 at 5:41 am
This article is a way to show islanders where their trash goes, and what it has done to the island. I think i would be a good idea to expand the kauai trash site so thatour trash would finally have a place to be disposed of. Luckly, we dont make to much trash, so thats good. But 500,000 is still a large amount of trash that can be lowered down just by doing the three R’s. Reduce, reuse, recycle!
November 23rd, 2009 at 8:30 am
I think that the idea of recycling would be good because we can reduce the trash and the island would be better than what it is now.
November 23rd, 2009 at 9:40 am
I think that these habits are not only gross and bad for the environment. If we recycle there will be less trash for sure
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:33 am
i think that recycling is a big issue because its a good way to save our earth and save many items that we could be wasting. If we recycle then it will save many things exspecially global warming which is the biggest global problem
November 23rd, 2009 at 10:42 am
It made me sad to hear that we are wasting so much lately. We really need to reuse, reduce, and recycle to save our planet before it is too late. Global warming is a really big problem that we need to take control of now.
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:11 pm
We need to lower our waste because it is hurting our environment. We also need to recycle more and waste less. If we recycle more then we could use the resources to power our home and power our life style.
November 23rd, 2009 at 12:12 pm
It is sad to know that we waste so much as 500,000 tons each year. Knowing this means that we need to recycle more and reuse things more, if we don’t apply the Three R’s in our life this world will just be a big landfill.
November 23rd, 2009 at 3:00 pm
i think this is a good article because it tells about the landfills on our islands.500,000 tons… wow thats a lot of trash. it surprised me how much we actually waste. GO GREEN
January 10th, 2010 at 12:49 pm
When you read this article it shows that we are running out of places to put our trash. It is hard for people in hawaii to throw their trash away because we have a limited amount of places to put our trash before it runs out. If hawaii was not in the middle of the pacific ocean we would have more space to put our trash since their is much more land to put it on. If we don’t do something now like not making as much trash we could run out of places to put it and soon it will end up messing everybody up.