A restraining order has blocked shipping tens of thousands of tons of trash piling up in Kapolei.
Now the company in charge says it is looking for other ways to get rid of the garbage.
The city is calling for a back-up plan as soon as possible.
Meanwhile a key contract deadline looms and the federal judge who ordered the halt won't weigh in again for another month.
Garbage that was supposed to be ocean-bound to the mainland has become a new mountain of sorts in Kapolei.
"I saw them wrapping it, it looked really neat, and then all of a sudden I saw it bulk up and then all of a sudden I kept seeing more and more, it just was endless, then it didn't move at all," said Donna Cadiente, who works nearby.
And likely won't move for at least another month -- not for shipping anyway.
A federal judge granted a restraining order after mainland plaintiffs took the U.S. Department of Agriculture to task for not getting an environmental impact statement before greenlighting Hawaii trash shipping to a Washington State landfill.
And they alleged insufficient consultation with Native American governance.
"We had understood that that was complete, and it's not our responsibility to do that consultation but it was our understanding that it was complete and that we were good to go," said Mike Chutz, president of Hawaiian Waste Systems.
The hearing on a permanent injunction while a separate lawsuit is metted out won't take place for another month. The city and the company Hawaiian Waste Systems aren't party to these court actions, but the city is putting the onus on Hawaiian Waste to deal with 20,000 tons of piled up garbage.
"It's their opala, it sits on their property, and they will have to dispose of it in a way that's appropriate. Department of Health will have to weigh in, obviously, we would look at accommodating their request whether it go to H-power or the Waimanalo landfill, but again, they own that," said acting Honolulu mayor Kirk Caldwell.
"At this point we are considering all of our alternatives so that we can do the very best that we can for everyone involved," said Chutz.
Discussions were underway at the ILWU office Friday afternoon between the company, city and union representatives over solutions the community says can't come soon enough.
Hawaiian Waste Systems has a three-year contract but had to ship 100,000 tons by September of this year.
