By Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann

I'm very pleased to announce that the city's highly successful curbside residential recycling program will expand next year to serve thousands of Koolauloa and Windward homes from Kahuku to Kahaluu.

We will further expand this important service island-wide by May of 2010. Together, we're making a difference, protecting our environment, and decreasing the amount of waste that ends up in our landfill.

Since early 2005, when I signed the Mayors' Climate Protection Plan, we have been on a steady path toward making City operations more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. Our Sustainability Plan is not just sitting on a shelf collecting dust. We are very serious about sustainability, and very serious about protecting our environment.

The recycling program, which is already underway in Mililani and Hawaii Kai, will expand this November to North Shore communities from Mokuleia to Sunset Beach; in the Windward communities of Kailua and Lanikai; and in East Oahu from Kuliouou to Kapahulu and Manoa.

In May of 2009, the recycling program will expand from Waipio Gentry to Halawa; in Wahiawa, Whitmore, Waipio Estates and Launani Valley; in Kaneohe; and in Waimanalo.

In November of 2009, further expansion will include the areas from Foster Village to Makiki; and the Koolauloa areas mentioned above.

Finally, in May 2010, curbside recycling will expand to Makakilo, Waikele and Waipahu; Ewa Beach to West Loch; and Honokai Hale to Makua on the Leeward Coast.

We're also greatly expanding our Community Recycling Bin program, which places receptacles on school campuses. The program will soon include 145 brand new bins at 120 sites throughout the island. Community recycling bins are used by schools to collect recyclable containers and paper generated on their campuses and in their classrooms; by single-family households and apartments and condominiums in the surrounding residential communities; and by small businesses.

New public recycling receptacles will also soon be placed in City parks and facilities. Initially, these receptacles will be placed in the largest City parks, including Ala Moana, Kapiolani, Central Oahu Regional Park, Waipio Soccer Park and all district parks. We'll later expand the distribution of these receptacles to other parks, including all community parks.

The City will also soon purchase the H-Power garbage-to-energy facility in Campbell Industrial Park, which disposes of more than 600,000 tons of trash every year while producing enough electricity to power 45,000 homes.

The City's agreement to purchase the H-Power facility from the Bank of America and Ford Credit for $43.8 million is a considerable savings from earlier cost estimates. The purchase will take place on October 30, pending City Council approval.

H-Power has disposed of more than 11 million tons of waste over the past 18 years, offset 480 million gallons of fuel oil that would have been burned to generate electricity, and helped prevent 11 million tons of greenhouse gases from being emitted into the atmosphere.

We plan to soon expand H-Power's capabilities by adding a third boiler, which will allow the facility to dispose of thousands of additional tons of trash.

These important projects and initiatives will benefit us all for many years to come, and they underscore the need to work together for the common good. Mahalo to everyone who cares about our island home and is working to protect our environment.