Honolulu’s “Bulky Item Pick Up Pilot Project” started about two weeks ago in certain areas, but there has already been some problems with pickups.
     
City council members say they’ve gotten many calls from concerned residents.They say some people are confused about how the system works and others are frustrated that their bulky items aren’t being picked up according to their appointment dates.

City Council Member Tommy Waters who represents Hawaii Kai to Ala Moana says, in the last two weeks since the pilot began, he’s gotten ten calls from people who made an appointment with the City and County of Honolulu to have their bulky items picked up, but services never came.

“People had made appointments and for one reason or another, they weren’t picked up. So, we would call the department of environmental services, and they’d come immediately and pick up,” said Waters.

The City says they would normally pick up the missed items the very next day, but that isn’t the case for some.

“One occasion, though they couldn’t come and they rescheduled it for another month, which we were a little disappointed in because…,” said Waters. “Having to actually pull it back onto your property is certainly inconvenient.”

The City and County of Honolulu says:


“These are very few isolated events, and what we hear from the field is the pilot program is working very well to those who make the appointments.”

The City did not say why the missed appointments are happening.

However, there’s another problem. Hawaii Kai neighborhood board member Carol Jaxon says there are still piles of bulky items that had been left out for scheduled pick-up before the pilot began.

“Since the end of May, some of the stuff wasn’t picked up by the bulky item pickup last month, and so it’s been left there and people have been adding to those piles,” said Jaxon. 

The City says to contact their Environmental Services branch if you need items to be picked up or if you’re having any issues with bulky item pickup.

Another major concern in areas of the pilot project include how to organize appointment systems for apartments and condos.

The City and County of Honolulu says there are no updates at this time regarding this issue.