 Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us for another episode of Kondo Insider. My name is Jane Sugimura, and I'm your host. And this is a show for people who live in condominiums and who work with associations or serve associations. And about a third of the people who live in the state of Hawaii live in condominiums. We hope this program is helpful and relevant to those people. Anyway, today's program is about the bulky item pilot program that started on June 3rd. And this only affects those single family homes and multi-family buildings from Foster Village to Hawaii Kai. But those of you who are not in the pilot program, you should listen up because, you know, when this pilot program is over in either January or February of 2020, I have a strong suspicion that the city is going to make everybody comply. And the old program, so those of you who are not in the pilot program, in other words, if you don't live in the area between Foster Village and Hawaii Kai, you're still on the old program. And that's the program where you have a specific date, like the last Tuesday of the month or the second Wednesday of the month, and you're told to put all of your bulky item pickup on the curb, on the evening of the day before the pickup. And then the city has three to four days to pick up your items. And the reason why it takes three or four days is because there are two, and I only found this out because of this recent notice that came out from the city, there are two types of trucks. First of all, there's two types of stuff that people put on the sidewalk. One is a metal, what they call metal items. Metal items are appliances like refrigerators, stoves, washing machines. Those are picked up by a different type of truck than the ones that pick up your couch, your TV, and roll up carpets, which is the other type of bulky items. But because the old program doesn't specify, you have two trucks kind of roaming around the city on that last Wednesday of the month trying to pick up these two different types of bulky item pickups. Now, the new program, which is the pilot program, they will only pick up stuff that you call in and make an appointment for, which means that you have to call the city, and there's a phone number that you call, or you can go to the city website, the Environmental Services website, and the website is opala.org. And so that's where, and all of this information I'm telling you about is if you want to know about it and you want any updates, that's where you go. Okay, opala.org. And so you either call the city at the phone number at opala.org or you log into their website and you make an appointment. And I'm only talking about multi-family buildings because we're talking about condos. Even though the website says that your property manager or your site manager or your resident manager is the one who makes the call, that's not true. That was changed weeks ago. Every unit owner or every resident has to make their own phone call. And so if you live in a high-rise or a multi-family building, like a townhouse or even a walk-up, you're the one who has to call the city. And you need to call and tell them make an appointment. And when you make the appointment, you need to tell them what you're putting out on the curb. What bulky items, whether it's a couch, whether it's a TV, whether it's a table or whether it's a metal object. And you have to make two separate calls, one for your metal objects and one for your bulky item. And each unit in a multi-family building can call in and make an appointment to pick up five bulky items. So you can have three couches, a chair and a TV. That's five bulky items. You can put that on the curb. And you can call in two metal items, which means you can have a refrigerator, a stove, or a stove and a dishwasher. But you've got to make two separate appointments. You cannot call them in in the same appointment. And that would mean if you go on the website, you have to make an appointment for your bulky item pickup and then make us for five bulky item pickups and then make an appointment for your metal objects. And not only do you have to make an appointment and tell them what you are putting out on the curb, you have to tag them. You have to do a label. And you have to make sure that the label is affixed to the item. So if you are using postage, if it's a blue couch or it may be a wooden table with a ceramic top or it would be a white GE refrigerator if you're talking about a metal object or a stainless steel hot point gas range or something like that, but you have to describe it and you have to be pretty specific. And if you're using postage, you've got to use some kind of tape to make sure that the postage doesn't blow away because you're going to put the item out on the curb. If it's windy, if it's rainy and that your postage flies off your item, the CD will not pick it up. You have to, when you call it in, you have to tell them what you're going to put on the curb. You have to label and tag it. And when they come with their trucks to pick up the item, if the item doesn't have a tag on it, if the item described is not on their list for pickup, they're not going to pick it up. And if they don't pick it up and if they don't pick it up, the city can find you because if you're the person who called in the item, and let's say you put a tang on it but it blew away because of the wind and they won't pick it up without a tag. And they come back maybe three days later and that stuff is still there. And they look on their website and they say, John Doe in apartment 3B of Pearl King condominiums, that's the one who called it in. And they're going to find you. So you got to be really diligent in complying with this. Either that or your association's going to have to remove it from the curb and put it away and call it in for the next or make another call to make sure that it gets picked up. And right now, with multifamily buildings, the website, Opala website, basically says that your resident manager or property manager or site manager has to be the one to make the call. That's not true. OK, so that means that the owner or the resident who lives there has to make the call. If the building decides that they want their resident manager to manage this bulky item, this is only in the pilot program area, if you want them to manage the bulky item pickups, you need to call the city and inform them of the name of the building, the address of the building, and that the site manager or resident manager or property manager will arrange and manage for the pickup. And in that case, if you have five people in the building who want to put stuff on the curb, that means each person has allowed five bulky item pickups, so that means that if you have five people, you could have 25 bulky item pickups and two metal. So that means there's five units. You could have 10 metal objects, so 10 refrigerator washing machines, dishwashers, and 25 couches, chairs, TVs, and tables. OK, so you've got to know that they're separate. You've got to make separate calls. You've got to describe and tag them. Otherwise, the city will not take them away. And if you go on to the city website, opala.org, they have pictures of the two types of trucks. And you can see why they have different trucks to do the metal objects. These are the big items. And they have a lift. They have some kind of lift that they can put the objects on that will lift these things up into the truck. And so you can see why they use two different types of trucks to haul these things away. And that's why you need to call them in separately. You need to put them on the curb separately. You need to tag them and describe them. And be very, very careful. If you don't tag them and describe them, they will not take them away. They will not remove them. You will get fined if you don't do this. And so make sure that you do that. And your association, if they do decide to remove it and put it aside, they would then have to be the ones to call in and notify the city that they have to pick up these additional items. And so these rules may seem to be very strict. And they are mainly because it's supposed to streamline how these pickups are done. And one of the reasons why the city is doing this is because they feel it's more efficient. And oh, one more thing. There's a letter. And it's going to be posted on the screen. Multifamily buildings in Honolulu are getting. Every building is getting a letter like this. And basically, what this does is it tells you about the change to the pilot program. And it tells you that there are two separate types of rubbish to be picked up as I have been describing. The bulky item and the metal. It says that you have to make separate appointments for the bulky items and the metal. That you have to describe them and make sure that they're labeled. Otherwise, they won't be picked up. Also, this one gives you the information for buildings who want their manager to manage the pickup. And the phone number that you have to call is 768-522-0768-522-0. Or you can email collection at honolulu.gov, collection at honolulu.gov. And that's only if you want to tell the city that you have a property manager, a site manager, or a resident manager who's going to manage the bulky item pickups. And that means the city is going to get one call, one call from each building from that particular person who will be calling in making the appointments for everybody who wants to do a pickup with that particular call. And so if you don't get the letter and it's, I'm sorry, I have to make a change. It only is going out to those multifamily buildings that are in the pilot program. So if you're not in the pilot program, you're not going to get it. Only if you're in the pilot program will you get this letter. You don't get the letter. Go on the website, opala.org, so that you can get that information. And now we're going to take a break. And when we come back, we will talk about basically the city's policy as to why they're doing this. Why are they changing the program? And why are they making your lives miserable? I guess because there's lots of people who are complaining about this. And you've probably already read the article in the paper last week. But yeah, this change is not coming easily. Anyway, we'll talk about why this is being done when we come back. Thank you. Hi, guys. I'm your host, Lillian Cumick, from Lillian's Vegan World. I come to you live every second Friday from 3 PM. And this is the show where I talk about the plant-based lifestyle and veganism. So we go through recipes, some upcoming events, information about health, regarding your health, and just some ideas on how you can have a better lifestyle, eat healthier, and have fun at the same time. So do join me. I look forward to seeing you. And aloha. Hey, aloha, everyone. And welcome to the Think Tech Hawaii studio. My name is Andrew Lanning. I'm the host of Security Matters Hawaii. We air here every Tuesday at 10 AM Hawaii time. Trying to bring you issues about security that you may not know, issues that can protect your family, protect yourself, protect our community, protect our companies, the folks we work with. Please join us. And I hope you can maybe get a little different perspective on how to live a little safer. Aloha. Welcome back to Kondo Insider. And my name is Jane Sugimura. And we're talking about the bulky item pickup program and an update. And also, we're talking about why the city is doing this. And just to review, the whole pilot program is built around this process of calling the city or going to the website, aloha.org, making an appointment for pickup of your bulky item rather than putting it out on a curb on a designated date like the last Wednesday of the month or the second Tuesday of the month. And the reason why is because the city has determined that it's more efficient to do it by appointments because under the old system, they didn't specify what you could put out on the curb. They just said certain bulky items. And so they were getting refrigerators and couches and chairs. And the trucks that they used to pick these things up are different for the metal items, which are the refrigerators, the stoves, and the dishwashers. And they're different from the trucks that pick up the couches, the chairs, the tables, and the TVs. And so under the old system, we had these two trucks riding around the neighborhood trying to pick up stuff. And it was very inefficient. So now it's by appointment. And so that way, the city knows that on a certain day, they got this many. They got 25 bulky item pickups. And they have 10 metal objects. So that tells them how many trucks they need to pick up the items at that appointment. And so that way, they can schedule the trucks and the manpower to do this. And so they feel that that's going to be more efficient. The problem is that because these are new rules and whenever you change a system, it takes a while for people to figure it out. And originally, the rules stated, and the website still says this, that the resident manager, site manager, or property manager of each multifamily building will make the appointments. That's not true. Okay, so that has been changed so that every resident, every unit owner can make their own call. And if the building decides they want that one person, the site manager, resident manager to do the management of the bulky item pickups, you need to notify the city. And you need to call them. You need to email them and give them the name of your building and your address. And then they will deal with your site manager or resident manager. But unless you tell them otherwise, they are not going to take calls from one person in the building. So that's really important. If your building has decided they're going to use one person to make the calls, you need to notify the city. Otherwise, everybody in the building makes their own calls for their own bulky item pickups that you have to make separate calls for bulky item and your metal objects, bulky item or couches, chairs, tables, TVs, and other stuff, rolled up carpets, metal items or appliances, refrigerators, stoves, dishwashers, that kind of stuff, okay? And they're separate. And you've got to keep them separate. And the whole reason for doing this is because the city wants, well, the public policy is we don't want illegal dumping. And so the city is doing this for free. The manpower and the trucks is being paid for by taxpayer dollars. And so that's why they have to be very efficient because they're using our money to do the pickup. And so the city wants to make sure that they're not wasting our money. And we want to make sure that they're not wasting our money with these pickups. But one thing if you go on, it's very interesting, if you go on the website, you go on the opala.org website, they talk about reusing, they talk about number one, ways to limit your trash. In other words, if you don't buy a whole lot of stuff, it's less that you have to dispose of. If you don't use it or you use it too often, that means more stuff. And those who live in multifamily buildings, I mean, you're paying an independent contractor to come and haul away your rubbish. Most of us, most of us, because some small townhouses have city pickups. The rest of us have to pay a contractor to come onto our properties and remove our rubbish. And if you look at your annual statement, those of you who live in condominiums, you're gonna find out that it costs a couple thousand dollars to remove your rubbish. So if you reduce the amount of rubbish, maybe your maintenance fees will go down. Do you ever think about that? If you do that, or you recycle, and the city has got recycling programs that they will work with condominiums, and that means recycling newspapers, plastic cans, and so they will help you do the recycling. And that means that if you recycle it, it doesn't go down into the rubbish and you're not paying for it to be hauled away. And with people who live in high rises, I mean, that's one of the bones of contention that we've had with the city that we pay property taxes, but we have to pay for our independent rubbish removal, whereas people who live in single-family homes, they pay property taxes and they get their rubbish picked up for free. And so there's something to it about, trying to reduce the amount of rubbish, not only because it's a good public policy, but it's for closer to home, it's gonna reduce the expense that you as a condo owner have to pay because you're paying for the removal of rubbish. And on the opala.org page, they talk about buying less, and that means you have less to throw away, it becomes rubbish, or recycling what you use so it doesn't go into the rubbish. And they have something called reuse, which is you take your stuff, and some of your stuff may be a little worn, maybe a little dirty, maybe if you put it in the laundry, you can give it to Goodwill and get a tax deduction. So instead of putting it out on the street or putting it into the rubbish, you should recycle your personal property. And on the website, they have a list of a bunch of nonprofit organizations that will, and some of these organizations will come to your property to pick up your personal property, United Cerebral Policy of Hawaii, big brothers, big sisters, helping hands, restore Honolulu O'ahu, restore Leeward O'ahu, reuse Hawaii, Goodwill Salvation Army. These people will come to your house to pick up your used furniture, your used clothing, and not only will they come and pick it up, you get a tax deduction for what you give them, because they are a 503C charitable organization. And when you give it away like that, not only do you get the tax deduction, it doesn't end up in the city landfill, which is a bone of contention for those of you who read the newspaper. We're running out of land, we're an island, and so there are very few places for us to throw our trash. And the H-Power plant, there's only one, I think they're talking about building a second, but that also takes money. So we are pretty much maxed out as far as land for refills and maybe H-Power for burning our rubbish. And so we need to become more diligent and more efficient about recycling and giving our stuff away to other people who will use it, so it doesn't end up in the landfills and in the rubbish cans. And so if you will go to opala.org to check the list of organizations that will come to your house to pick up your stuff or come and or places where you can come and take it. Or there's this organization called God Junk. And I think if you Google God Junk, they will come. And they're wonderful, they will come. And especially if you're a business, they will come and they will take your trash. And if their stuff is usable, they will find a charity, they will give it to charity and if it's like computer stuff or toners and stuff like that, they will take it to the place that disposes of that kind of stuff and then they will take the other rubbish and dispose of it in the ordinary way. And it does cost money. It does cost money, but it's done efficiently and it's done right. It doesn't end up in the wrong place. And this way you are helping to manage the rubbish so that it doesn't affect the greater public. And so these are some of the kinds of things that you might want to consider and when you think about organizing your trash and you should maybe have in a condominium, maybe you want to get some of your residents and set up a committee to figure out ways that you can manage your trash because a high-rise building, you think about it, think about the trash that you put out on a daily basis and multiply that 300 times, 400 times, 500 times, and that's your building's trash. And so you're not talking about a small problem, you're talking about a big problem and getting rid of this stuff efficiently and in a way that doesn't impact the greater society it would be a good thing. And so you might want to set up a committee in your condominium to figure out ways to manage the rubbish removal and to organize the bulky item pickups so that they run smoothly. And maybe you want to, where the location on your sidewalk where you put your bulky items, you might want to have the association put cameras there because something about condominium and bulky item pickups, you put stuff on the sidewalk and it's like a virus, it grows and all kinds of things end up on this pile, it doesn't belong to you and the camera would let you know who's putting that stuff there because the city will hold the property owner liable. So if it's your condominium and you have stuff there, that wasn't called in and it's not labeled and tagged, it's going to sit on the sidewalk and your association's going to have to deal with it. And so you don't want to do that. So you're going to have to take steps to arrange, try to manage this so it doesn't come back and bite you. And it's going to take some work and ingenuity and cooperation. And I think that's something that you might want to try to explore with your residents. And so we will be ending this session and if there are any more updates on the bulky item issue, we will come back and make sure that we inform you and I hope you will join us next week for another episode of Condo and Cider and Richard Emery will be your host for next week's program. Thank you and Mahalo for joining us this week.