Tour de Trash
The city offers free tours where the public can visit sites and learn more about how the City and County of Honolulu manages our island’s Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) and how businesses are implementing sustainable practices while providing crucial services and products. The public can see firsthand, the processes involved with managing MSW to include source reduction, recycling, composting, waste-to-energy, and landfill diversion. Raising public awareness of our `ōpala through Tour de Trash helps us to engage the public in intelligent discussions that impact future decision-making on source reduction, recycling, and waste management initiatives.
Tour de Trash 2025
Tour 1: Recyclers and Waste Processors
The recyclers and waste processors tour follows the path of our `ōpala (mixed recyclables, green waste, and trash) from the blue, green, and gray carts to their respective sorting, composting, and waste-to-energy facilities. This tour is a great introduction to the city’s solid waste program which saves valuable landfill space.
RRR Recycling Services is where all of the city’s curbside blue cart material is received and processed. Tour goers will follow the recycling stream through the elevated sort line and see how paper, plastic, metal, and glass are separated and prepared for shipping to overseas end users.
H-POWER is the city’s waste-to-energy facility, where all of O`ahu’s trash is incinerated to generate electricity. H-POWER is capable of processing up to one million tons of trash per year; providing O‘ahu with up to 10% of its electricity needs – 70 megawatts of power, or enough electricity to power 60,000 homes. Hardhats and safety glasses are provided.
Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill. Tour goers will learn about the environmental protections and controls employed by today’s modern landfill including its complex liner, active cell site, leachate catchment system, surface water controls, and methane processing system.
Hawaiian Earth Recycling (HER) is where participants will see how green waste from the curbside green bins is recycled into compost and mulch. HER staff will explain the science behind the composting process; from inspecting, grinding, mulching, and open air windrow management to screening and mixing their final products into different soil mixes.
Tour 2: Construction and Demolition (C&D) Recycling
Registration Time: TBD
Tour Time: TBD
Physical Activity: Stairs, walking, standing, dust, and dirt.
Dress Code: Covered shoes, pants, and long sleeves are required.
Big or small, from home renovation to large construction projects, Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste is produced. Tour 2 will provide a glimpse of how companies in the construction industry are implementing techniques to create less waste and to produce reusable products.
West O‘ahu Aggregate recycles concrete, rock, and asphalt for resale and screens fill dirt from construction projects and converts it into topsoil. This method of recycling C&D waste is favorable because it provides a reuse option for materials that would otherwise be landfilled.
PVT Integrated Solid Waste Management Facility is a C&D, privately owned landfill that diverts up to 80% of the debris that enters its facility. PVT recycles wood, metals, concrete, rock, and dirt which saves valuable landfill space.
Island Demo is centrally located in the Honolulu area. Contractors are able to deliver C&D waste to Island Demo, where the waste is processed for reuse and recycling. Island Demo deconstructs buildings, recycles the metals, and process concrete into aggregate helping to save valuable landfill space.
Tour 3: Green Business
Registration Time: TBD
Tour Time: TBD
Physical Activity: Stairs, walking and standing.
Dress Code: Covered shoes are required.
On the Green Business tour, participants will get a behind the scenes look at how businesses are implementing sustainable practices to create less waste. Businesses participating in this tour have received the Green Business Award from the Hawai‘i State Energy Office, Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism.
The Hawai‘i Convention Center’s exemplary sustainability programs include food recovery and donation systems, mixed material recycling collection systems for offices and events, as well as the energy and water efficiency equipment and measures they’ve implemented throughout their facility.
Whole Foods Kahala will showcase their recycling programs and sustainability initiatives, such as food donation, reusable shipping containers, and energy and water efficiency measures.
Gyotaku Japanese Restaurant will feature food waste recovery and used cooking oil collection to produce feed and bio-diesel.
Tour 4: Reuse Tour
Tour Time: TBD
Physical Activity: Stairs, walking, standing, dust, and dirt.
Dress Code: Covered shoes and pants are required.
The Salvation Army is an international organization that came to Hawai‘i in the 1890s. Their mission is to aid in providing for the material, emotional, and spiritual needs for those requiring assistance. At their headquarters, we will see how they provide housing and work for those in need, receive truckloads of donations from around the island, sort, refurbish, distribute to their other thrift stores, and resell the items to help support their cause. They bale, ship, and sell unsold clothing as a commodity to support their organization and to further their green initiative towards landfill diversion.
Re-Use Hawai‘i is a nonprofit organization that reduces waste by providing deconstruction services that disassembles the structure by hand salvaging reusable construction material. Re-Use Hawai‘i accepts donations and provides the community with an affordable building material source.
Honolulu Habitat for Humanity is part of a global nonprofit organization that seeks to eliminate substandard housing through constructing, rehabilitating, and preserving homes. Their ReStore entity is a home improvement store and donation center that sells new and gently used furniture, appliances, building materials, and home accessories to the public at a fraction of the retail price. Proceeds raised at ReStore go towards supporting their mission of providing housing for those in need.
Tour 5: Wastewater Tour
(Open to the Public)
The Wastewater Tour “Follows the Flush” of wastewater from the toilet to the collection system where it may reach a wastewater pumping station to traverse it on to a wastewater treatment plant where it is collected, treated, and discharged safely back into the environment. The tour will consist of three stops:
- Kapolei Business Park Wastewater Pump Station is the newest wastewater pumping station for the city run by the Department of Environmental Services.
- Honouliuli Wastewater Treatment Plant – This facility was built in 1978 and services the area referred to as West Mamala, which extends from Halawa to Makakilo, including Barbers Point and Mililani. The plant collects and treats roughly 26 million gallons of wastewater daily. In 2024, the facility was upgraded to full secondary treatment as a condition of the 2010 Consent Decree.
- Sand Island Wastewater Treatment Plant is where the tour finishes and is the final portion to complete the 2010 Consent Decree. SIWWTP is the largest treatment plant in the state and handles approximately 54 million gallons of wastewater daily. It serves the communities from Kuliouou in the east to Salt Lake in the west, including Kahala, Kaimuki, Waikiki, Manoa, Makiki, downtown Honolulu, and Kalihi. The facility is expected to be fully upgraded to secondary treatment in 2035.
Registration begins Wednesday, October 23, 2024. Please call (808) 768-3454 or email PIO@honolulu.gov for reservations. Limited seating available. Registrants please be aware there may be stairs, narrow passage ways, noisy equipment, standing, dust, dirt and noxious odors. Required dress code includes covered shoes, pants, and long sleeves for your safety. More details will be provided after registration is closed.
Important Tour Information
- Tour participants must be at least 12 years old to attend. Minors between the ages of 12 to 18 years of age must be accompanied by an adult.
- Participants will be asked to provide a form of identification to verify reservation and secure a seat on the tour bus. All participants are required to sign permission/liability waiver forms pertaining to their specific tour before they will be allowed to board the bus.
- There is no charge for the tour, including site-to-site transportation. Space is limited and reservations are made on a first-come basis. Please consider your reservation a binding agreement to attend. A no-show is a seat that could have been given to someone who may be waiting for an open seat.
- Tour does not include lunch or refreshments. Please bring water and/or snacks.
- Tour may require participants to wear specific clothing and covered shoes. Please make sure that you follow the dress code for your tour. Participants who are not properly dressed for the tour may be denied access. All tour participants are required to stay with their tour group at all times for your safety.
- Keep in mind the tour is designed to give participants a behind-the-scenes look at O`ahu’s wastewater facilities. Some of these sites may require climbing several flights of stairs, walking through narrow corridors, standing for extended periods, and may be hot, dusty, or dirty. Please make sure that you are aware of the physical activity expected for the tour.
- Please arrive at least 20 to 30 minutes before departure at any Start/Finish location listed to register and sign necessary forms. The bus will leave at the time designated. We will not be able to process late arrivals once we have confirmed participants and boarded the bus.
- All tour participants are required to stay with their tour group at all times for your safety.
- Tour sites are subject to change.
Cost and Sponsors
There is no charge for the tour. The tour includes round trip site-to-site bus transportation. The city supports the costs of the buses, tour guides, promotion, registration, planning, and site coordination.
Tour guides on the bus are Department of Environmental Services staff. Each participating tour site makes their facility available to the tour group for about an hour and provides in-house staff to conduct the tour and respond to questions.
The wastewater tour is promoted on the city’s website. City staff handle registration, planning and coordination.
The participating tour sites offer their facilities and staffing resources at no charge, and are considered sponsors and partners.