John Harder
John is a Berkeley dropout who came to Kaua‘i in 1969 and…
Waste-To-Energy Plants Stalled in Maui County While Landfills Approach Capacity (2020)
https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/local-news/2020-01-08/waste-to-energy-plants-stalled-in-maui-county-while-landfills-approach-capacity Nearly five years ago, Hawaii Public Radio reported a series of…
Jenn Sifuentes
Bio
Projects and Programs
Zero Waste Resource GuideTo educate local decision makers of the potential Zero…
Movie Night
ZWK partnered with Kauai Community College to put on a number of…
Enhancing Plastic Container Labeling for Consumer Clarity and Recycling
Enhancing Plastic Container Labeling for Consumer Clarity and Recycling: A Proposal for…
Landfill Expansion Environmental Assessment
As the current Kekaha Landfill has a short remaining life span and…
JoAnn Yukimura
JoAnn Yukimura was mayor of Kauaʻi County from 1988-1994 and served on…
ZWK Resource Guide
Jimmy Trujillo
Jimmy Trujillo has lived on Kaua’i since 1999 and is a resident…
ZWK Ohana
What is Zero Waste?
Zero Waste
Efforts to reduce solid waste generation waste to nothing, or as close…
Join Us
ZWK Membership
Background MRF
The County of Kauaʻi”s number 1 goal in the General Plan is…
Status of the MRF
The County has completed a conceptual design for a MRF, a budget…
Event Coordination
A major element of our project has been to promote waste reduction…
Alanna Le Sueur
Bio
Ruta Jordans
Ruta Jordans has followed a zero waste way of living all her…
Past Testimony on the Kauaʻi ISWMP
Testimony on the Kauaʻi Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan Update Draft 4By…
Our Story
Zero Waste Kauai (ZWK) was founded in 2006 by Pat Gegen and John Harder (aka the Dump Doctor) in response to a proposal in the County’s Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan update (ISWM Plan) to include Waste to Energy (incineration) as an option in the County’s waste management strategy.
Our Intent
Our original intent was primarily education: to expand the public’s awareness of the potential of Zero Waste Management to more effectively manage our discards, rather than employ incineration as a primary strategy… and it worked!
Our Success
As of 2020, the island of Kauai successfully diverts approximately 43% of landfill-bound waste, primarily through HI-5 Recycling programs and Green Waste Management sites, as well as food waste diversion practices such as composting and large-scale events management in partnership with ZWK.