General Tips for Park Cleanups

Click HERE or go to the following link for helpful beach clean-up tips from the Kokua Foundation:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AQAZGLwY0KrNZGR4Y3RteHhfMTJjaDhwMnZkeg&hl=en


Please also see Rep. Shimabukuro's personal tips for beach clean-ups below.

Beach Clean Up Tips:

1) If a back hoe is needed, try contacting the City Parks & Rec Department Director, Lester Chang (lchang@honolulu.gov), Mike Alvarez of Henkels & McCoy (malvarez@henkels.com), or other public service minded private companies about volunteering manpower and heavy equipment such as this.

2) Check with the City &/or State to see if they're interested in partnering with you to do the clean up. For the City, try contacting Iwalani Sato (isato@honolulu.gov), and for the State, try contacting DLNR director Laura Thielen (laura.thielen@hawaii.gov).

3) If the City/State is unable to partner with you for the clean up, be sure to make arrangements with them beforehand to haul away whatever trash you collect. For City parks, I usually make arrangements with Clint Jamile (cjamile@honolulu.gov). For State parks, highways, etc., make arrangements with DLNR (laura.thielen@hawaii.gov).

4) If you are cleaning an area with a large homeless population, your should alert the area homeless outreach workers to help coordinate the effort. Partners In Care (partnersincarehawaii@yahoo.com) may be able to assist with locating the appropriate outreach workers.

5) Be sure to have gloves, trash bags, a first aid kit, and water for volunteers. In terms of water, I'd recommend filling out an application with your local McDonald's, who provides free coolers, ice water, and cups for these types of events. You just have to return the cooler afterwards.

Note: The following tips apply to major clean-ups involving tons of trash which your group plans to haul away:

6) Assess the area you are cleaning up. Thereafter, ask the City to waive the tipping fees for trash you're hauling to their landfill and other disposal services. You will have to sort the trash into at least 4 categories: metal, batteries, tires, and regular trash. Check with Wayne Hamada of the City's Department of Environmental Services regarding these issues (whamada@honolulu.gov).

7) If possible, arrange for assistance with hauling away the various types of trash collected on-site. Rene Mansho (rmansho@schn.com) of Schnitzer Steel is an excellent resource person who can sometimes help arrange for companies to volunteer their trucks and employees to assist with this.

8) Matson has a program which provides a 40' container to non profits doing community clean-up's for up to 3 days. If the group sorts, fills, and disposes of the trash using the container and meets other criteria, Matson will provide a monetary donation to the non profit. For more info, visit http://maile45.blogspot.com/2009/12/matsons-ka-ipu-aina-container-for-land.html or call 848-1252.

9) In regards to tires, keep in mind that Unitek at Campbell Industrial Park, which is where you have to take tires, is not open on weekends. Individuals are allowed to take a limited amount of tires (2-4 per day?) to community convenience centers.

10) If your group is hauling the trash away or to containers on-site, you should have as many trucks on hand as possible. Consider renting flat bed or other large trucks if possible. Further, as stated above, contact private companies like Henkels & McCoy, who may be interested in volunteering their time and heavy equipment.