Honolulu’s long-standing trash woes grow worse as plan to ship garbage to Washington falters

Honolulu’s long-standing trash woes growing worse

HONOLULU — Gigantic piles of shrink-wrapped garbage have been moldering in the heat of a Hawaii industrial park for more than five months, waiting for a place to be shipped.

That wait appeared to end Monday when city officials inked a deal to dispose of the 40 million-pound pile of odious rubbish over the next six months by mostly burning it in an existing waste-to-power plant.

But bigger problems remain for Honolulu as the state’s largest city struggles to find a home for all its waste.

Honolulu’s lone dump is filling up fast and its plan to ship trash to Washington state has faltered.

But the city produces nearly 1.6 million tons a year, and though it will burn more in a couple of years, it still will have to site a new landfill soon after.