Hawaii has one of the world’s most beautiful and sensitive ecosystems. Schnitzer Steel’s facility located on the island of Oahu has a long history of promoting sustainability. Employees show their dedication both on the job and through volunteer activities and partnerships with the local community.
Over the years, tons of derelict fishing gear (mostly nets that have been abandoned or have broken loose) from commercial fishing operations throughout the world, have become a huge environmental threat in the Pacific. They ensnare and kill dolphins, green sea turtles, monk seals and other wildlife; can get entangled in boat propellers, stalling work for days; and become lodged on pristine coral reefs and ultimately destroy the reef and kill everything living on it.
In 2002, Schnitzer Steel Hawaii joined forces with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the US Coast Guard who remove the marine debris and are met by Schnitzer trucks that haul the nets to their metal recycling site. Schnitzer cuts the nets into foot-long pieces and transports the material (approximately 100 tons each year) to Honolulu's HPower facility where they are burned to generate enough electricity to power 42 homes per year. Previously, the nets were rejected by HPower and buried in the municipal landfill until Schnitzer volunteered to cut them for burning. Today, both marine life and valuable landfill space are being preserved.
The program expanded in 2004, when Schnitzer agreed to service a 30 cubic yard roll-off bin purchased by NOAA, that was placed at Pier 38 in Honolulu Harbor. The long line fisherman and other harbor users now have a place to bring the "ghost nets" that they regularly find at sea. When the bin is filled, the fishermen simply call Schnitzer and Schnitzer empties the bin.
For its role in the program, Schnitzer Steel Hawaii received the Hawaii Audubon Society's Corporate Environmental Award in 2003 and 2004, the Hawaii State Department of Land and Natural Resources Coral Reef Preservation Corporate Award in 2005, and the Oahu Surfriders Association Environmental Award in 2006.
Schnitzer Steel Hawaii is committed to provide continued support for this program and looks to partnering NOAA with other Schnitzer yards and waste-to-energy facilities to recycle the nets and divert waste from landfills.
Using Diversion Tactics
Schnitzer Steel Hawaii is coordinating a unique set of community service projects involving 13 private recycling companies, government agencies, schools and non-profit organizations. They are called the "Aloha `Aina Earth Day Recycling Community Clean-Up Projects." Schnitzer is promoting Earth Day each month where a community organization volunteers to collect recyclable trash and raise funds that are paid for scrap metal, newspaper, cardboard, beverage containers, cellular phones, printer cartridges and cooking oil. Other recyclers participating in the monthly efforts accept computers, old tires, green waste, all sorts of batteries, telephone books, confidential documents for shredding, useable lumber, useable clothing and household items. Neighborhoods look forward to the program servicing their areas.
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