Got Aloha for a Teacher?
Did you know that on June 30th the City & County of Honolulu plans to remove the white Community Recycling Bins that have been collecting recyclable materials at O'ahu schools since 1990? Without these recycling bins, students who have been learning how to recycle and reduce waste will now have to throw their recyclables into the trash.
But we can change that! This Thursday the City Council's budget committee is meeting to discuss whether or not to allocate $2.4mill to continue the Community Recycling Bins program.
Send an email now to the City Council Budget Committee stating your support for community and school recycling.
We set up the email for you - clicking on the link automatically opens an email in your server to send direct to the City Council Budget Committee. Remember to include your name and address so they'll know whose constituent you are.
If the Community Recycling program ends, schools will lose an important source of community-supported funding. Since the start of the program, participating schools have received more than $1 million returns for the cardboard, paper, and HI-5's collected in these bins. Many schools host monthly recycling drives that student clubs and afterschool programs rely on for funding.
This Budget allocation has support from Ann Kobayashi, chair of the Budget Committee, and Ernie Martin, chair of the City Council. They need to hear that the community supports this program in order to pass this budget. Can you take 2 minutes now to send them an email?
We made it easy to click and send. Please add in something from your own experience or perspective about why school and community recycling is important. Here are some talking points:
Mahalo for taking a stand for community recycling. If you are available to attend the Budget committee meeting in person on Thursday, May 10th at 9:00 am in the Council’s Committee Room in Honolulu Hale, there will be time for public testimony. We will report back to you what happens after the meeting.
Link to Bill 14, CD1, FD1: Amendment List 22 under Refuse Collection and Disposal (third amendment from the top of the page)
For a little inspiration...Students from schools across the island are submitting testimony about the white bins. Here's one from 6th grader Charlotte Wood:
Aloha
Food
Waste
Comments posted prior to adopting Facebook comments.
Thanks Kasha! I live on a street that will never get curbside recycling. There are many others on simliar unserved streets, townhomes, and apartments that rely on these white bins to recycle. I just sent in my testimony.
less than one minute to use your handy link!
Thanks Kaui - I'm glad you found it easy and quick!
You can use the handy "share this story" link on the top right corner of this page to post directly onto your friends' Facebook walls and ask them to submit testimony too - super easy!
Mahalo for being a part of this important effort - we've already gotten over 100 email testimonies so far today!
Oops - it looks like that feature is broken, you can still share to your own Facebook wall, and paste this link onto your friends' walls: http://kanu.me/savebins
The link to send an email isn't really working for me. It keeps trying to load an email client. Can you post the relevant contact info here in the comments? Thanks!
Hi Ian,
dching2@honolulu.gov, jtachibana@honolulu.gov,
BCC to: gkim@honolulu.gov, testimony@kanuhawaii.org
Hi Ian - apologies that the email link to send in your testimony to the Honolulu City Council Budget Committee isn't working for you.
Here's a sample message, we encourage you to add in something from your own experience or perspective about why school and community recycling is important.
Emails should be sent to:
To: dching2@honolulu.gov
Cc: jtachibana@honolulu.gov
Bcc: gkim@honolulu.gov, testimony@kanuhawaii.org
Subject: Budget Committee Testimony: Save the White Bins
Aloha Honolulu City Council Budget Committee,
Mahalo for taking leadership to continue funding the Community Recycling "white bins" program. I respectfully ask you to pass the budget allocation for $2.4mill for this important program for the following reasons:
Recycling is an important lesson for students learning good habits of environmental stewardship.
The Community Recycling Bins are an important source of community-supported funding for afterschool programs, sports, and student clubs. This funding is especially important during a time when many creative and active programs for youth are being cut due to budget constraints.
Community members rely on the white bins, especially those who do not have access to curbside recycling or have an excess of recyclable materials.
Thank you for your consideration. I hope you will pass the proposed budget allocation to continue this important program.
Mahalo,
Your Name
Your Address
Your Phone Number
Thanks for the info Rachel and Kasha. I got an email out yesterday night.
Curious to hear about any results from the budget meeting.
Campaign update:
The budget committee meeting went well last week. We had 227 people submit testimony from our call to action to save the bins! I was there along with Carol Feinga from Kokua Hawaii to present testimony, and the council members seemed quite supportive of funding the Community Recycling program - nods and smiles all around.
The amendment to allocate funding for the white bins passed out of the budget committee to a third reading with the City Council on June 6th. We'll keep you updated when that agenda gets posted.
Mahalo to Kasha and Carol. 227 testimony emails! What an awesome effort. (and a great use of technology! Thanks Olin!)
Way to go Kasha! and thank you Carol and Olin! I look forward to seeing how we can use this example of policy and budget advocacy in the future.