Kekaha landfill expansion proposal heads to public open house for Westside input
Westside residents will weigh in May 27 on a plan to raise Kekaha Landfill to 171.5 feet and add capacity before the island’s only permitted dump nears 2030.
The county will take its Kekaha Landfill expansion proposal to the Westside on May 27, when residents can hear how Kaua‘i’s only permitted landfill is being pushed toward a 2030 capacity limit and what Cell 3 could buy in time. The open house is set for 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Kekaha Neighborhood Center.
The Department of Public Works Solid Waste Division and consultant Tetra Tech say the session will update the public on capacity challenges, long-term disposal planning and the Hawai‘i Environmental Policy Act review process before the Environmental Impact Statement Preparation Notice is published. County materials describe the proposed Cell 3 Vertical Expansion as a way to build upward within the existing landfill footprint rather than spread outward across more land.
The draft permit would raise Phase 2 of the Kekaha MSW Landfill from 120 feet to 171.5 feet above mean sea level and increase daily acceptance from 200 tons to 275 tons. It would also allow the landfill to accept non-hazardous leachate and condensate from the closed Halehaka landfill. County project materials say Kekaha is still expected to reach capacity around 2030 even with the expansion.
That timeline is the issue at the center of the meeting. County materials say that if Cell 3 does not move forward, the island could run out of permitted landfill space before a replacement site is ready. The county also says shipping municipal solid waste off-island is not practical because of legal and financial considerations, and that permitting, design and construction of a new landfill could take about 10 years or longer.
Kekaha’s landfill history shows how long the county has been trying to stretch its life. Phase I began taking waste in 1953 and closed on Oct. 8, 1993. Phase II opened the next day and has already been vertically expanded in 1998, 2004 and 2013. Earlier county planning materials said Cells 1, 2 and 3 were expected to provide 12 years of additional municipal solid waste disposal, while later county pages say the site now handles about 90,000 tons a year and still faces a tight deadline.
The Cell 3 proposal also sits inside a bigger argument over where Kaua‘i’s next landfill should go. The county’s Ma‘alo proposal has drawn opposition over agricultural land use, tsunami risk and the burden on Westside communities that already host the island’s only landfill. For Kekaha, the open house is not just an information session. It is one of the first public checkpoints before the county locks in the next stage of a decision that will shape trash disposal, traffic and planning for years to come.
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