Tag Archives: Hawi

Recycling

Recycled glass in Hawaii

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Glass.’ See more responses here.

We don’t have trash pick up here. Instead, we take our trash to the transfer station, which is also the place to take items for recycling. These days, only glass and corrugated cardboard are being recycled. In the past, they also took other cardboard, paper, cans, and plastics. But those things were dropped, supposedly because of a lack of a market for them. Another factor is that it’s been difficult keeping transfer stations staffed and open. Finding staff to deal with recycling is probably impossible right now.

Even with just glass and corrugated cardboard accepted, I see people, no doubt with good intentions, putting the wrong things in the wrong places. The idea is to recycle glass, not glass in a cardboard box or plastic bag or with the cap on or surrounded by insects because it hasn’t been rinsed out!

I read somewhere that one of the reasons some nations stopped accepting recycled materials is that too many shipments were not recyclable, but were essentially trash. Still, I continue to drop my glass in the recycling container in the hope that it does some good. Incidentally, these aren’t all my bottles and jars! These were in the recycling skip.

Dilapidated shed

An old shed in a wood

This week’s Sunday Stills challenge theme is ‘Dilapidated.’ See more responses here.

This old shed sits on my neighbor’s property. Up until a couple of weeks ago it was invisible. But the property is for sale ($2.4 million if you’re wondering, and yes, it needs some work) and the real estate agent had all the cane grass removed from amongst the trees. This was a good move allowing a better idea of what the place looks like. Before, the entry looked dubious at best.

My guess is that when the property sells, the shed will be among the first things to go.

Turbine painting

Maintenance work on a wind turbine at Hawi Wind Farm, Hawaii.
Maintenance work on a wind turbine at Hawi Wind Farm, Hawaii.
Maintenance work on a wind turbine at Hawi Wind Farm, Hawaii.
Painted patches on a wind turbine at Hawi Wind Farm, Hawaii.

I came across this scene at Hawi Wind Farm on my way down to walk at Upolu. I’ve seen similar before, various maintenance tasks being performed on the turbines. In this case, the crew appeared to be cleaning rust streaks and then painting them.

When I zoomed in I was taken by a few thing. First up was the shadows thrown off by the man up in the air. I thought this shadow had the look of an old time whaler. When I zoomed in, I was charmed that they were to be using a roller to paint these rather large turbines. Granted, they were just patching bad areas, but it seemed like they might use something giving quicker coverage. I also liked the patterns made by the painted patches, as if some kind of code was involved.

Oh, and yes, they missed a bit!

Better Days: The weeds are winning

An old backhoe is covered by weeds

This weed-covered backhoe sits besides Hawi Hill, the road from Hawi that leads to Waimea. I’ve passed the spot numerous times and often thought I should get this photo. The problem is that the hill is steep and narrow here, with nowhere to pull off to take the photo. The closest obvious parking place meant a walk back up this busy road.

Finally, one day recently, I was heading home down the hill in the late afternoon. Traffic was light with nothing coming toward me or following close behind. So I stopped the car in the road, wound the window down, and snapped a couple of photos, including this one. Then it was off again, before someone careened into the back of me.

Circus in town?

Houses in Hawaii being tented for termites
Houses in Hawaii being tented for termites

The neighboring property to where I live has recently been sold. There are five rental houses on it and the new owner, wisely, decided to have them tented for termites.

When I saw the colorful tents going up I walked over to take photos. One of the tenants was there and we started talking about the process and, almost simultaneously said, “It looks like a circus.”

And it really does look like that, though the second photo suggests it’s one of those circuses with very scary clowns.

Houses in Hawaii being tented for termites