‘It’s as if a bomb went off:’ Waipahu’s illegal dumping problem worsens
HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Illegal dumping has been a problem in Waipahu for years. But local businesses and environmental activists say the problem has gotten worse during the pandemic.
“It’s as if ... a bomb’s went off,” said Carroll Cox of Envirowatch Inc. as he described the abandoned cars, old tires and rubbish at a cul-de-sac at the end of Leokane Street, which appears to be occupied by a homeless person.
“It’s disgusting.”
Cox said that there are at least nine illegal dump sites throughout Waipahu.
The largest dumps sites are behind Waipahu High School, along the West Loch bike path between Waipahu and Pearl City.
In central Waipahu, shopping carts litter the Waipahu Drainage Ditch.
The banks of another stream -- Kapakahi Stream at Farrington Highway and Waipahu Depot Road -- is loaded with trash, fallout from another homeless camper who has taken up residence there.
“I’ll contact the city tomorrow, send them the pictures and get someone to clean it up,” said state Sen. Clarence Nishihara, (D) Waipahu.
“They’re generally really responsive ... they usually serve to follow up on the problem.”
The Kapakahi Stream site was actually cleaned by the city earlier this week.
But after the city workers hauled away the rubbish, someone apparently came back to dump more trash.
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