What do do with the trash from Hawaii? (Kilauea: for sale, earthquakes)

[alaskangrown]

Calico- kudos for your efforts, mate. But, have you thought about getting a few laying hens? They do wonders for nibbling and composting your kitchen and garden scraps, and also lay delicious eggs, and require almost no maintenance. I've always had a few around, and loved them. Composting material can be labour intensive, tricky, and messy, but a little chicken run can turn over green waste in a matter of weeks!

[AlohaHuey]

The continents of collected garbage in the oceans is truly shameful.

[Calico Salsa]

Originally Posted by alaskangrown

Calico- kudos for your efforts, mate. But, have you thought about getting a few laying hens? They do wonders for nibbling and composting your kitchen and garden scraps, and also lay delicious eggs, and require almost no maintenance. I've always had a few around, and loved them. Composting material can be labour intensive, tricky, and messy, but a little chicken run can turn over green waste in a matter of weeks!

We considered this, but wondered if the feral cats would have a feast if we let the chickens run free. And no space to keep them cooped up, plus then I'd feel bad for them. How much space does a chicken need?

[HankDfrmSD]

Originally Posted by Calico Salsa

This all makes me think I need to rethink composting at home. We'd given it a try, but weren't successful. I don't think we can compost the amount of green waste we generate, but maybe we can make some dent in our own.

I compost all the green waste generated on my heavily planted 1/3 acre yard. I bought an 8 hp chipper shredder at Home Depot, and run everything except the base of palm fronds through that. Good exercise! We add kitchen vegetable scraps, and once a year some horse manure. It all sits under a black plastic tarp for six months, and comes out as loam. Mix with a little sand, and it's great potting soil.

Hank

[SacalaitWhisperer]

Some folks proposed shipping nu cu lar waste into outer space on NASA shuttles. Stupid ideas come around now and then. It is your duty to call them that. Good job. Don't mess with Texas? Don't EVEN mess with Hawaii.

[wanderfrog]

One consideration is the Native Hawaiians belief in Pele, goddess of fire, lightning, wind, & volcanoes. "Her home is believed to be the fire pit called Halemaʻumaʻu crater, at the summit caldera of Kīlauea, one of the Earth's most active volcanoes; but her domain encompasses all volcanic activity on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi." -Wikipedia. It might be a big huge no-no to dump trash in such a sacred place. Would be very cool if it worked, but Pele's no joke there. The people believe in her fierce retribution when she is displeased or offended. As far as the efficacy of incinerating trash in the Hawaiian volcano, I am no expert and will not assume to know the answer.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by wanderfrog

As far as the efficacy of incinerating trash in the Hawaiian volcano, I am no expert and will not assume to know the answer.

Efficacy? Irrelevant. It will not happen.

[KauaiHiker]

Since someone revived this thread, I may as well comment on it: in addition to being culturally insensitive, dumping trash into the volcano is completely unfeasible. The magma (underground lava) chambers shift underground all the time, and the surface eruptions change place all the time (every month, every year). Nor do we really have the technology to drill into a magma chamber, let alone one that changes all the time. But I agree with most everyone, just the thought of putting trash in the volcano seems like sacrilege to nature. There is a geothermal power station on the Big Island, and there have been issues with that. Now I see those papers about people dumping in lava tubes, and that just makes me sad.

Hawaii uses regular landfills, and they are filling up. Every island is faced with the problem of opening a new one and condemning a whole area to being buried and stinky forever.

Hotzcatz and PacificFlights had great ideas to reduce waste by reusing and repurposing old items and taxing all the packaging. Ideally, Hawaii residents should cut their waste down to 10% or less of current levels. I see neighbors put out 2-3 trashcans and a ton of cardboard boxes (all recyclable). Not to mention green waste that they're too lazy to take to the green waste centers.

They don't make it easy to recycle on Kaua'i, you have to sort and drop off all your recyclables yourself. Nor do they recycle iron cans and non-beverage aluminum cans/bottles. If people could just compost their food scraps, buy less packaged products, and recycle everything else, we could reach 10% (I put out about 10% of the trash that my neighbor does). I also think Hawaii could get creative with recycling, for example using huge solar furnaces to melt down scrap metals back into usable ingots that could be sold for a premium.

[alex7777]

Originally Posted by PacificFlights

No matter what twist is put on it, it is a STUPID idea. Hawaii volcanos are a natural wonder and a naturel event. I don't care if it was wondering or suggestion or just a thought, it showes how ignorant people are to their natural resources. What do you think would happen if someone posted using the grand canyon as a landfill. or Yellowstone as a toxix waste dump because of the corrosive nature of the area? How much trash can be disposed of inside Carlsbad caverns? Just because people on the mainland are destroying their land by dumping waste wherever, does not mean hawaiii needs to play that game.

But I will not change the stance that just wondering or just seeing lava as some heat source to burn garabage is stupid as stupid comes.

You haven't explained your stance, though. I think we can all agree that there is no actual goddess living in the volcano, and if you have a natural heat source, why not use it?

In fact, why not use the geothermal heat to create energy? Reduce the cost of electricity, and reduce pollution? What's stupid about that? Wouldn't have to disturb the more picturesque lava flows and volcano spots.

You need to understand the distinction between something filling up the grand canyon, and something (at least theoretically) being incinerated/vaporized, which is what the OP envisoned.

[alex7777]

Originally Posted by SacalaitWhisperer

Some folks proposed shipping nu cu lar waste into outer space on NASA shuttles. Stupid ideas come around now and then. It is your duty to call them that. Good job. Don't mess with Texas? Don't EVEN mess with Hawaii.

Shooting nuclear waste deep into outer space (or even just to the moon) would actually be a great idea once we can keep the shuttles from blowing up. There's no one living near us, and a lot of extra space out there. Far better than having it here on earth, where earthquakes, etc., can get to it. I assume the exploding shuttles are the source of your current objection, though.