HONOLULU (KHON2) — Delays in picking up trash could continue through 2025, according to the city. Honolulu Deputy Communications Director Ian Scheuring said they are doing everything they can to address the problem.
It’s an eyesore. Overflowing bins and trash left uncollected is an issue happening more often.
“There have been plenty of days in the last six months or so where at least a couple of trash routes have not been picked up,” Scheuring explained. “It all comes down to supply chain issues that were first caused as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.”
“We have plenty of people, drivers, we just don’t have updated equipment,” Honolulu Department of Environmental Services Director Roger Babcock explained.
According to Babcock, his department has a fleet of 105 side loader trucks, each one lasts seven years, and they buy 15 new trucks a year.
In 2020 he said all those orders were cancelled and they hadn’t received any new trucks until very recently.
“That means that we have to collect with only about half the trucks, and they’re constantly in and out of the shop,” he added. “And what that means is trucks do two routes a day, many of them, which means they also get worn out even faster than than they normally would.”
Babcock said they’ve been scrambling to cover routes, doing their best to collect the trash as quickly as possible with the trucks that are still working.
According to the city, two new trucks are now in service. One of them is in Wahiawa that picks up garbage along the North Shore and the second is in Honolulu, which services communities from Hawaii Kai to Halawa.
Babcock said they are hoping to get 12 more new trucks in by this fall.
“We’re hoping it will be better, probably not perfect. That’s going to take probably into next year,” he explained.
If you put your bins out and they don’t come at their usual time, he said don’t take them back in.
“The thing to do is to, is to leave your cart out,” Babcock said. “We’ll get to it later in the day, or the next day, or as soon as we can.”
Supply chain issues are affecting more than just trash pick-ups according to Scheuring.
“We’re waiting for the arrival of six new ambulances, and there’s another new contract on the way for four additional ambulances,” he said. Best case scenario they’ll take 18 months to get here.
The Department of Parks and Recreation is also dealing with a shortage of rear load garbage trucks, leading to delays in trash pickups at city parks and beach parks.
Scheuring said the degree to which departments are impacted varies from day to day, depending on inventory and repairs.
The city is asking for the public’s patience as they work through this.