Three Everyday Problems Locals Have to Deal With in Hawaii
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 ก.ค. 2024
- Having lived in Hawaii for a long time, I noticed that there are certain everyday problems that I just haven't been able to figure out. While these things may seem small, I figured that other locals are also struggling with these problems too. So I'm putting this out there to ask if anyone has good solutions for these Hawaii problems.
Intro - 0:00
Problem 1 (Reusable Bags) - 0:44
Problem 2 (Recyling Cans and Bottles) - 2:53
Problem 3 (Sand In the Car and House) - 10:27
Conclusion - 13:31
Filmed using the Insta360 Ace Pro.
#hellofromhawaii
#hawaiilife
📷 IG - / hello_from_hawaii
Mahalo for all of the great suggestions. I'll be trying some of the suggestions, especially the ones related to the beach sand. 🤙
The reusable bag problem solution: do not store them at home - store them in your car to reuse them at the supermarket. If you get out of your car and find yourself in the store without your reusable bags, FORCE yourself to walk back to the car and get them. After you do this a few times, it should become automatic- you will feel naked without your wad of reusable bags in your hand the instant you park at the supermarket to shop,
Mahalo for the suggestion. What would you suggest with the bags we have stored in the house or that we receive as gifts?
I store mine in my car, but I don't take them into the store. I just take the cart to my trunk and bag them there.
@@HelloFromHawaii Use it to carry your food for potlucks then just leave em
#1. Reuseable bags... I worked at a grocery chain for years here in Hawaii. When plastic bags were first introduced, they were the thin flimsy type akin to the produce bags still in use. Thicker plastic bags were introduced (can't remember when and why) by my company stayed with it until it was outlawed. "Paper or Plastic" was no longer and option. I thought the thick plain white plastic bags from Longs
was the most durable.
I truly have a life-time supply of plastic shopping bags from my chain. The great thing about them is that I can fold them up and put them in my pocket before going into shop (when I remembered to do so). I also have a couple of different sized insulated bags I keep in my car in case I have frozen goods I might want to stabilize for 30 minutes.
Sometime ago, I remember a customer presenting his canvas bag to pack. When opening it, the stench was overwhelming. I didn't make any comment and packed his bag. I would highly recommend people who reuse their bags to segregate meat products from their other purchases. I use those plastic pocketable bags but know what bag I use for meats and ensure I clean it after use to rid any loose meat juice. Yes, I do wash my hands often.
Will comment on other two points later
Luv these presentations!
Well for my family we do this. We get a backpack we put all our reusable bags in it and we carry it everywhere we go. So you don't have to buy anymore. But when we forget it we have to buy and we don't like that one bit. My mom used to crochet plastic bags into rug so we could do also it with material bags. Plus also we need a vending machine for the cans in every store. A car vacuum for your car after the beach you vacuum up your car. Plus you vacuum up everybody before going into the house. Get a little dressing room in your garage. To take off all your clothes and put new ones on so no sand were to going your house.
I usually vacuum once every few months. Or if the sand is really bad, I'll vacuum after a beach trip. Hard to get the sand in-between the seats, though.
I buy fabric reusable bags. They can be washed. The big cold bags from Costco, after a time, I usually donate to someone who is homeless. They like the sturdiness and brief cold storage. RE bottles and cans, I look for schools to donate them to.
We also use the cold bags for eggs and other food that needs to be kept cold on the drive home. One in the car.
I just got home to Ireland from a vacation in Oahu, and we share the same problems except for the sand. I was actually happy to buy some Hawaiian reusable bags from ABC and Foodland and left them in my backpack as I was walking around. Now I have them for when I go shopping at home. I never go anywhere without my backpack so it was easy for me. At home, I always leave them in the trunk of my car in case I need them, with at least one in my backpack too. For returning the recyclables, I struggled with that in Hawaii. I had to get help from a local who told me where to go in Makiki. It's definitely a lot harder for you in Hawaii than here. In Ireland, any store that sells the cans and bottles in the first place are obliged to take them back and give you the deposit back. The deposit's a lot higher here though, 15 cent instead of 5 cent, but it's more convenient at least.
By the way, I need to thank you for your videos. I learned so much from you before we went to Oahu that it helped a lot. So thank you, from me and my husband, for sharing everything.
1. Take the reusable bags to thrift stores for them to use. 2. Recycling is hard. Can’t help you there. 3. There is no guarantee however, have everyone shake off their towels, shoes, etc before entering the vehicles. Best of luck 🤙🏽
Kalaako Park 🤙🏾
Big Island here...we have trained ourselves to use our own reusable grocery bags for well over 10 years now, so, we have none of those weird bulky handled bags. No can help you there.
As for recycling, we do not drink soda, period, nor anything in plastic. We have one bin we use for aluminum, which is primarily sparkling water, then beer, hard seltzer, hard ciders, and hard kombucha (um, yes, we indeed like to drink!). We rinse the cans out well and redeem our bin about 1x a month at the local recycling center, which luckily is centrally located and easy to use. But I do wish wine and liquor bottles were HI-5! Hate throwing them away.
And finally, the sand issue...we live Puna! No sand here, all lava cliffs! Hahahaha!
As always, love your channel! Mahalo!
Mahalo for sharing. I thought the liquor bottles had the HI-5 thing on them. Did they change that recently?
@@HelloFromHawaii I have never seen HI-5 liquor bottles here, sad to say...
with reusable bags i literally use them as gift bags for people. hahahaha and people take them. so i dont need to buy a gift bag . I also sent them to people in the mainland when i sent gifts and use it as "padding" and since its from hawaii they want it more and actually use them. theres no way to fully keep sand
but i keep a big water jug with a spout and rinse my foot off in the car and once im home let stuff dry outside while i wait for people to shower, put things in the washer, and clean up the cooler then go outside and then take a wide soft brush to wipe it down and put it back in the car. i dont bring it in the house or i put some in the closet by the door. then after that i shower sand
meshy beach blanket helps, and a soft wide brush to wipe feet helps me a lot
most of the mess is the trunk tho but i have a rubber linear in the trunk to pull out and dump out the sand
Mahalo for the suggestion with the water jug 🤙
I carry 3-4 reusable bags in my pocket at all times. it's handy when shopping and it also came in handy many other times. It's great to carry leftover containers from restaurants or parties. It's great to carry smaller items in one bag. I also have reusable bags in my car, my backpack, at work. One time my friend in my car was sick, so I gave him a reusable bag just in case he had to hurl. He ending up throwing up in the reusable bag.
Nice system for your bags. Glad you had an extra one for your friend 😅
I know one guy he earns 2,875 bucks a month recycling aluminum. He also dismantles things to reclaim aluminum, steel and copper.
Cans & frameworks & stuff 😮😂
Some TH-camrs posted a hack of converting a Home Depot pesticide container into portable showers, but at Don Quijote they now just sell the ready made shower containers in their camping section-about $23? I think this good to try get the last minute sand off your legs and things right before getting into the car.
We used to heat up water and pour it into the shower container to take warm showers at camps that don’t have hot water. The container at Don Quijote is a cheaper option than the rectangle shower thing they sell at Costco but the downside of Don Quijote is trying to keep the tall container upright in a moving car if it is filled with water. I think if it is horizontal it might spill(?).
Re the bag problem, maybe you have mainland friends. If you have Hawai'i themed reusable bags, pack your gifts for your next goodie/ holiday box to them in the bag. We are working on sustainability here, too. Or if you have fans, offer the bags to them at a good deal! Especially if they're Hawaiians living in the mainland :)
Our city gives us three trash bins, gray, blue, and green. The gray bin is for regular trash. The blue for recyclables like cans, bottles, cardboard, newsprint, foil, and certain plastics. The green bin is for compostable stuff like grass clippings, leaves, food scraps, etc. All this is included in our trash pickup fees.
they all go to the landfill tho
@@diveanddine The green waste is turned into compost and the methane used to fuel the rubbish trucks. Most of the plastic waste cannot be recycled. Our city only accepts #1, #2, .
www.manhattanbeach.gov/departments/public-works/environmental-programs/solid-waste-and-recycling-programs/recycling-information
Yeah we don't have curbside recycling in Hawaii. Hell, we don't even have municipal garbage service. You haul it yourself or pay a private business to do it. Hawaii isn't like the mainland.
The houses have three bins, but not the condos.
@@diveanddine I'm pretty sure ours are handled differently. Maybe in different places it varies. Good to check out however.
We live right by the sandy beaches of FL and I do the following to keep sand from tracking into car and house. Before heading to the beach, fill empty OJ jugs with water; 1 jug per person and keep it in your car. After a day at the beach and they’ve rinsed off at the shower station, before getting into the car, give them the water jug to rinse their legs off. Once their legs are clean; have them sit sideways in their seat with their legs sticking out of the car (without stepping into the car) and rinse their feet and flip flops off. Then they can reposition properly on their seat. Also make sure when they rinse off at the shower station that they flip the inside groin area of their swim trunks upside down while the water is running to remove most of the sand that is stuck in the groin area of their trunk/swimsuit.
We're living in Tokyo and we moved to a new (actually pretty old) condo last year. There's a big room on the first floor for garbage with areas for different kinds of trash. We can leave it there at any time. In our previous place, I had to keep stacks of stuff in the kitchen. Now it's so nice.
I often wonder where the recycled stuff REALLY goes to. What happens to the milk cartons and the styrofoam food trays that I religiously prepare for the bins? No other country does recycling like Japan and it reflects the norm of keeping things separate, which is why if you go to the bakery each item is wrapped in its own bag. Overwrapping!
And just try finding a trash can in Shinjuku Station with over 3.6 million passengers a day.
BTW couldn't you have kept stuff on the balcony at your previous apartment?
I've seen how good the recycling program is setup in Japan. And my wife them are pretty diligent with separating everything.
We did leave the trash outside when it accumulated over the New Year holiday. Now no such problem :-)
Remember the beer can hats and visors? Make hats great again! 👍
OMG! I'd like to forget those. I made a few of those too. Too funny.
@@makulewahine 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣💝
Love your Channel!! Best wishes to you and your Beautiful Family!! 🌺
Mahalo 🤙
I love your channel. I have learned different things that help me as a transplant to the Big Island. Your rant is real and also our problem. I love you and your family; keep up the good work ❤
Hopefully the comments provide good solutions 🤙
I love the chicken walking across the park in the background at the beginning!
I thought you said the recycling began after 2000, but I remember taking bags of cans down to the weigh station decades before that. Maybe it's the Mandela effect and I'm not remembering it right.
For reusable bags I just put them all together on a hanger and hang them up in the closet.
I remember always bringing sand back from the beach but it was always stuck in my suit so no matter how much I showered It off, it was still there.
We have the same first two problems in California. As for cans and bottles, I just put them in a bag and put them out by my front gate. They are always gone within an hour. It's not worth the dollar or two to keep them around.
For th3 sand, just get one of those garden pesticide sprayer, they go for 30 bucks or so at Walmart, fill it with water, pump and spray. Also, baby powder.
Mahalo for the ideas 🤙
In Germany, you can drop off your Glas - Plastic Bottles, and Cans at a Grocery Store like Aldi, Lidel, or Rewe, and you will get an in-house store Credit you redeem at the Cashier. Pretty easy since this is the place where you purchase your drinks anyway.
Sounds like a great system
Note: Yes the system in Germany is pretty good, but there is a lot of Technology behind it. The bottles are getting Scanned by the Machine and if the bottle is not being recognized it will be rejected. Matter of fact, the Machine is shredding the plastic bottle, or crushing the Can. As soon as the Container behind the machine is full, (which is taking Thousands of Bottle or Cans), someone has to remove the Drum and replace it with an empty Drum. The biggest dilemma is when the Machine is Defective or someone has placed something in the Machine that causes the System to Stop accepting Recyclables. Then everyone depends on the Store manager or Service tech, Which upsets the consumer. In other words, there is an entire Service team behind this system which is huge. However, it works well because they know they need to keep the flow going otherwise the Stores get bad reputations with their consumers. To understand how the Giant German Grocery Stores works is a TH-cam video on its own. Aldi and Lidl the Giants are planning to be as Green as possible and the USA could learn some great lessons from them. I truly believe it is also the European Mentality to Recycle, but again, they are not perfect either, and in many cases over the top! But here is the point: Would it be better for Honolulu, if they placed machines in Stores like Costco, Foodland, Times, or Safeway,? Yes, I think it would be the best for Recycling here in the Islands. Also, keep in mind Each plastic bottle has a redemption fee in Germany of 25c which compared to Hawaii with 5c is not an incentive for everyone to get on board to recycle. So Hawaii should re-think the way we do Recycling!
Small kid time......use the empty shoyu gallon jug with clean water to wash of the residual sand before going into the car :)
🤙
Ok - reusable bags: keep a limited number in your car. If you forget them at the store, put your purchases back in your cart, and load them into your bags in the parking lot. Don’t buy a bag!
Regarding beverage containers. Do it the old fashioned way. Make the vendor pay you back. We used to take our cans and bottles back to the store where we got them. We got our five cents from the store. But the store arranged to have them picked up by the township, and weighed, and got a per pound figure that made them a small profit for “selling” the bottles and cans to the town. But you have to change the law for that.
Failing that, if you live in a condo, try bringing this problem to the condo board or ass’n. Maybe storage can be found on the property.
The last one - when you go to the beach, you get sandy. You can shower it off. Knock it off your feet. Empty it out of your bags. You’re still gonna have sand, especially with kids. 🤙🏻
I wish the grocery stores would accept the cans and bottles. Would make it a lot easier. We go shopping almost weekly and could drop off cans and bottles then in smaller numbers.
Hi. Thank you for sharing. You exude a sense of love.🤙
Sand is not a problem, it's a souvenir of the good times. Embrace it.
It's an age old problem for which there is no good solution (from my experience). Sand is basically magic and appears everywhere no matter what you do.
😅 I'll be trying to figure out it for the rest of my life
Number 2
Lol😂make wind chimes for da cans to spook da unwanted pigeons (po~ting)and use the glass bottles too...for the plastic water bottles make large dbl thick square tube floater for the kids to go pa'ani on top at Ala Moana Beach...😊Frenchie now living Dallas.. Aloha No, Ho I miss home so much😢
🤙
Hey Chris....When you have a chance, would love to hear your take on the STR changes. Many of us who live in the mainland now still go back often. If we don't want to be humbug with relatives, we book an AIRBNB. I think Hawaii will have a lot less visitors with the changes. Wife and I are retired, resorts are out of our price range. Thanks.
1. Shopping bags. I just have a few in the car, the rest go to the trash. I rather pay ¢.15 for paper bags.
2. Homeless make a mess flipping the trashcans to take some cans. I went to Seoul (S. Korea) a couple of years ago and what they do is great, in every building or complex they have a machine where you put the cans and then charges a card that you can use for riding the train etc. Here in Hawaii we live in small condos, I have no space for a recycle bin, cans and bottles go straight to the trash.
3. Sand. Have vinyl or leather sits and carpet for easy cleaning.
It would be nice to have a credit system like you mentioned. Maybe load up the Holoholo cards.
#3 Issue, sand in the car, house: I’m not sure the problem can be eliminated completely but maybe it can be minimized by having a hand towel in the car to use to rub away or shake away as much sand as possible before entering the car or house. One towel for the body and another towel for the shoes. Another suggestion: maybe we can change our mind about it. Instead of thinking it’s an issue or a problem, we can simply consider it as part of the lifestyle living in a place full of sand. “So fortunate having all the sand that can always remind us how wonderful it is living in a place like Hawaii”. Thank you for sharing your video!
I use those bags shrimp shells or pineapple scraps. Basically anything that would really stink up the trash and attract flies.
Good idea. Maybe we should use the bags for food trash.
#1 we buy the thicker plastic bags and then throw them out - they are not recyclable here (San Diego). #2 we have a blue bin for bottles, cans and cardboard the city picks up every other week (however scavengers usually get the bottles and cans). We also have a green bin for yard and kitchen waste (we can’t toss food waste in the trash). #3 Can you rinse your feet off before getting in the car? You probably will have to vacuum the car more often - just make peace with it. Ha, ha, ha 😂
blue and grey bins get dumped at the landfill
We don't have bins since we live in a condo. The houses have, though. And we can try to rinse our feet better, but we still track sand. 😆
Da bags gon be 3 gens ol
by da time gotta trow um away 😆
Somebodee: "Eh, dis not da one Sally got 28 years ago
fo Christmas"
😂
I keep plastic and paper bags in my car and try to see how long I can use one before it falls apart (make a game of it). For recycling, I would encourage you to think of it as being good for the islands and the world our kids will inherit, not an inconvenience. Maybe Hawaii needs to raise the price from a nickel to a higher amount in order to put value back into the process.
My city (Edmonton in Canada) did something similar a few years ago - plastic bags are banned, but stores are allowed to use biodegradable paper bags in case customers forget their reusable ones and are willing to pay 50 cents per paper bag (does Honolulu do this also?). Still, I've found a similar issue with accumulating reusable bags, so I try to make a point of designating two or three that I'll always keep in my car in case I decide to make a last minute stop at the store if I'm out. I also find them useful to have on hand if I have guests over for dinner and I send them home with leftovers. Kind of like tupperware, my family and friend circle just has these reusable bags in circulation as we send them home with each other after meals together.
For the cans and bottles, there are some workers that accept your "count" of recycleables. They see it so often that they can just look at it in the gray bins and know if your count is pretty much on point. If you come every so often with pretty much the same amount, you build up a repertoire with those certain workers. They know they can trust your count. Doesn't hurt to leave a couple bucks in the tip bucket.
I'm with you on all those problems! I just throw out reuseable bags when they start to get worn or torn. I will also use them for holding my donation items and drop off the entire bag. But I still have a huge accumulation of them. 😅
It would be awesome if Hawaii had a system for collecting recyclable materials in the public like I've seen in some other cities. It should be even more important for us as an island to be efficient with our resources!
It would be great if the recycling system was more convenient.
In Massachusetts all grocery stores had recycling bins on for cans one for glass. Even Costco had them. It was very easy
As far as sand, I noticed the lifeguards at the beach have a 5 gallon bucket of water at the bottom of their ramp and they dip their feet in them before walking on to the ramp. That might help before entering your home. Your car...cannot help...
Spray bottle for mist/stream in the trunk before getting the kids in?
What you could do about sand is to embrace it. Cover your car floors and your house floors with an inch or two or three of sand. Then you will NEVER notice sand again.
#1 Times market used to have a bin for bags at the entrance. #2 find someone who recycles and give them your cans. #3 change into dry clothes at the beach and throw wet clothes into bucket. Bring water bottle to rinse feet.
I use the reusable bags to plant vegetables in they make great grow bags
I think the sand issue might have to so with static electricity. The question then is how to get rid of it. Example. I learned that before getting out of a car, hold onto the door or something, it prevents getting shocked by the car as static is built up when the body glides across the seat during the drive. Although it’s unhealthy, maybe dryer sheets might help.
Maybe. I used to experience static electricity and getting shocked a lot in CO. Dry air.
Ironic though since everything else is made of plastic from water bottles to the food packaged in plastic. There is also loop hole that if the plastic bag no more handles its not considered illegal. SMDH So food vendor like L&L and a host of others use plastic bags without handles.
With recycling I believe it does help as any homeless person see one can or bottle on the ground they going take em and recycle it as its money. Almost every district get one Reynolds recycle center in which you can go to recycle cans and bottles to make your money back. Problem is they go by weight and not 5 cents per can so they can rip you off by even as much as a dollar or more. Also if you do count your cans and bottles they limit you to how much you can do in one day which is humbug which forces you to let them weigh the cans instead of 5 cents per item as people not going come back often to recycle. Its to much work and hassle to recycle. I rather give my cans and bottle to the homeless cause they got all the time in the world to recycle it.
Sand I dont have a solution except wash the sand off as best as you can make sure its not in your hair, pockets or BBD's lol
We pay and get .10 cents per can or bottle here. The Bottle Drop program makes it easy. We don't have to separate bottles and cans and can even leave the caps on. We purchase special trash bags and stickers with a bar code attached to our account. We just drop full bags off at several redemption centers around town. The amount after they scan the bar code gets added to our account.
Certain stores will give bonus discounts for using bottle drop credits at their store. It can add up and it feels like free money. I'm more inclined to take the steps to recycle when it adds up to "free" food or household items someday.
It would be nice if Hawaii could look into something like this. Some of the drop off locations are literally just modified shipping containers located in the far sections of parking lots.
People can still go to the main centers and feed their cans into machines one by one if they dont want to buy the bags or stickers, but I prefer not to spend my weekends smelling a warehouse full of old stinky beer cans. Blech. 😊
Bags: save and donate to nonprofit thrift stores and shelters.
Cans and glass: Could (1) have neighborhood collection points like Japan or (2) have machinery in refuse plants that mechanically separates trash so no home separation needed. This is done in some counties on the mainland and keeps homes cleaner and less bugs.
Sand in cars: have second pair of rubber slippers in car and change after spending time at the beach, just as is done going into a house.
For several years I was recycling cans and bottles for travel money....I would pick up along the road and get them from friends. I always liked Gatorade bottles because they are heavier to bring up the weight of the bag,
I get fabric at Walmart with a Hawaii theme and make bags with handles. Use a paper grocery bag for the pattern. Double the fabric for a sturdier bag. Machine wash the bag when pau using.
Store the soda cans in the reusable bags till it's time to recycle.
I use the reusable bags for everything lol I have a whole stash in the car at all times.
Getting sand off your feet and legs after shower, dry legs & feet, apply baby powder. The powder will help to prevent sand sticking to you.
Mahalo for the tip
😁 rant on, it's Rite-On 👍
When yu use your own personal custom grocery bag, da foods tastes mo bettah. 😃😁
I got idea: Give 'em back as birtday present wid da new birtday gif insai
😁😅
🤙
Lived in California and the homes have trash and recycle bins. We put bins out on the curb and a trash truck and then, a recycle truck, would pick them up once a week. I now live in Mexico, our high rise condo has recycle bins for glass, plastic and cardboard. Also our beach here has recycle bins (not enough though). We only have a few homeless here, they take a lot of the cans away from the bins for cash.
I don't live in Hawai'i, but I must have 500 plastic bags. I always grab extras at the grocery store because I foster cats, and I use them for changing the litter boxes.
Problem 1: Wash your extra reusable bags and ask local store(s) to take them and make them available to customers for free.
Problem 2: Take the smaller amounts of cans and bottles in your car and when it's convenient, donate them to someone on the street who NEEDS the extra money.
Problem 3: Keep a gallon jug of water in your car and rinse your feet before getting into the car.
K brah...number 1 and 2...ya i dunno either. personally i miss plastic bags so much hahaha. anyway....for the sand heres a couple tips coming from a local guy with 4 small keiki. First tip: go to beaches with showers and you gotta force/train your kids to shower off every time no matter what...sunny, cloudy no matter the expetation is we are showering. that alone will help choke. also if you're keiki are still small and you're comfortable with it make em shower naked....you'll never get all the sand out if you dont...trusssss me! The shower is much more easy to force when you have a dry towel ready for them at the showers so have one ready that wasnt used at the beach that isnt already salty and sandy. Have you seen those robe towels yet? those are killa....go straight from naked kid into a warm dry towel that they no need hold up or anything...most times well just let them ride home in that towel if they dont wanna change...thats another tip either have the robe towel change clothes before you get in the car. all wet shorts swim suits etc can go in a bin and youre only putting in clean dry kids in your car. last tip.....the feet and ankle side is the most elusive. get one of these, game over!
www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N8RHDPW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Mahalo for the suggestions 🤙
As for the redemption machines, they are in many supermarkets in Germany, and they WORK. And you're right, if the machine breaks, it will require a maintenance person to fix it, which will create a few jobs. I really wish we could import this, especially since this is not cutting-edge technology (I was last in Europe a decade ago).
4..to all the lolo's who take a bunch of Sriracha sauce packs at 7-11 2 IS ENOUGH NOT 10 🤬
Reusable bags. Yeah, they collect. I use them for gift bags at Christmas or parties, they are more usable than a party bag. I do bring cans and bottles to redemption center. However, you can put it in the blue can as well and the city will get the money. I see people regularly picking up cans on the street or parks and even digging through trash cans at stores. Some people have to recycle because they would run out of room in the trash cans and it is hard to get an extra trash can. I don't have to worry about the sand, I don't go to the beach. You can get more sand off if you use a towel and powder. Water makes sand stick, making it dry with powder helps to release it . A hand vac helps too.
I don't understand why an island state isn't in the forefront of recycling. Here in Tumwater recycling is almost a religion. You can get glass, paper, cans, etc, and yard waste recycling. All picked up from your house. Lots of things can go into the yard waste including meat, eggs, coffee and tea filters, etc. Some people even have just a tiny little can for regular garbage. We forget that land is finite and it becomes a real issue as to where you are going to put all that stuff. As for the bags, I use them to store stuff in, take stuff to Goodwill, or regift them. I always have them in my car and yes, some times I have to walk back to the car but now it's pretty automatic to just have one in my hand or in my purse. I'll bet you could use some of them as grow bags too. As for the sand, good luck. We lived in Kailua and I always had a bunch of boys in my car when we went to the beach. I just learned to live with it. I had a VW van so I could also sweep it out.....if I felt like it. Good questions that really do need answering.
Reuse them as intended: Shopping bags. Or secondary as trash bags. Or trash them as last resort. I always recycle cans and bottles. Luckily, my recycle center is close by and no lines. I wait until I have at least 2 full large trash bags. If I have no time, put them in the recycle bin of my weekly home trash service. Don’t feel bad about trashing them because the trash service actually sorts them before going to the landfill. Besides, the recycling service might not actually be recycling them.
Try rinsing your feet. Rinse again when you get home at the lawn. Invest in a powerful vacuum.
Or just don’t go to the beach. 🏖️ Or cover your seats and flooring.
Mahalo for the advice. Since we're in a condo, we can't rinse on the lawn, but maybe just vacuuming more often.
If someone wanted to start a Recycling business - reverse "milk delivery" or reverse "Door-Dash" might work. Maybe someone could pick them up and leave a redeemable voucher or bring a handheld scale to weigh recyclables. (I know, big MAYBE, big ask.) If the community supported the program and received 1 of the 5 cents and was supported by donations, crowd funding or other revenue, like community-service pick-up might work. There are groups working on The Great Pacific Garbage Patch that might have other ideas or be able to help find resources (or create them). When a problem is so big, utilizing all available resources and sharing "the profits/benefits/rewards" with those that have the means to create solutions can work.
As for sand - maybe use a ultra-soft cloth first and then a car Dustbuster? Seems a little far-fetched, but...maybe, also try to get sand out of hair and scalp, where it sticks so easily and use a soft-bristled skin-brush for skin and clothes? Maybe changing shoes before going into the house, either in the car or just inside the door. I don't live at the beach, so not sure. Best of luck.
Baby powder on the affoarea … rub off instantly and then vacuum away 😆
You have to remember to bring the bag with you to the store so you don’t get another one. I store them in one of the bags on a shelf in the closet. I also have a light foldable one that fits in my purse.
In NYC you take the cans back to the grocery store to redeem the cans and bottles. Some of them have those reverse vending machines so clerks don’t have to do it.
No way to keep sand out sorry!!
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I wish we could redeem the cans where we buy them. It would be so much easier.
Hey ever thought about interviewing local people on the streets? I think getting opinions from locals is a great way to understand Hawaii peoples.
I have thought about it, but it would be challenging to get the release forms. Maybe I wouldn't need it, but I'd want to get it just in case. Gotta find an intern 😆
The first two issues you discussed are 'toughies', because America and mankind has made themselves into 'societies of excess'. We accumulate things over time, and haven't figured out how to minimize them. Recycling is the biggest glaring issue, as it shows how we've become a disposable society. We have yet to learn how to change the paradigm away from what was, towards a new norm.
As you mention condos, this is one of the issues when we're talking about moving to electric vehicles. Sure homes of good size are ideal, as they can store a bunch of can/bottles for recycling, reusable shopping bags, and even install a home charging unit for the electric vehicle...condos cannot at this time.
Although on the extreme, what does someone who lives in a condo, rides the rail/bus system, etc...who lives a 'green/Earth-friendly' lifestyle adapt to these changing times??!!
The Federal, State and City had/has lofty recycling goals, they just haven't thought though executing it at its lowest levels.
As I said, this is a paradigm shift that requires the government to interject how they are going to adapt their ambitious goals to those individuals and lifestyles.
I recycle both plastic bottles and aluminum cans. I also carry rubber gloves so I can collect them when out and about around island.
Good idea. I used to carry gloves during COVID, but don't anymore.
The hardest part of living in Hawaii is the DMV, at least the one here in Hilo. Lived in Japan 15 years and had my drivers license expire. One can not survive in Hawaii without a license and staff are arrogant with that power.
Man, the sand.. when l lived there l remember it being very sticking sand and hard to get off of everything. Good luck with that one, l just gave up and kept sweeping the floor.
I may just have to vacuum more.
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I think I’m missing something here; looks like some obvious solutions are available. Re: bags: leave it in your car so when you go shopping, you have them. Sure you might forget now and then, but you’ll get used to it. Where I live, we fortunately have beautiful, creative jute bags that people love. I have a lot because I like them! Re: recycling bottles/cans: do you have recyclable items collected separate from rubbish? If not, that’s your answer. If so, use it! Why bother with collecting pennies to recycle? The “point” for recycling is not for you to collect pennies; it’s to be more ecologically responsible as a whole. Besides, the ROI on collecting cents on recycling is not worth it; spend your time doing something more constructive that will earn you better. Put your recycling in proper community bins and be done with it. Lastly, sand in car and house. Brah, you live on one island. And if you go to da beach, nobody can give you a guarantee on how to keep sand out of your car and house. Buy a dust buster for your car and get your head around it! Fun video. Thanks for posting it. 🤙🏼
Reusable bags: They have to live in the car. Donate overflow to churches and places that hand out food to the homeless. They LOVE to get bags.
Recycling: If you don't have many cans, just donate them to the crew at recycling center. Or call schools near you to find out if they have recycling bins. Talk to work and ask why they stopped and reinstate it again.
I kept the baggy in the trunk, so if I passed the center or a recycling bin, I put it in.
Sand: have a water jug in car, rinse again before you get in. Have rubber floor mats in car, they shake out easily. Leave slippers at door when coming home from beach. And i have an old wash cloth by the door to wipe off any I missed or dry off when I get home.
Mahalo for the suggestions 🤙
start a trend with reusable bags. instead of throwing them away, talk to your locol grocery stores and see if they will put out a recycle reuse bin out. front where people could drop off their extras, and people who forget to bring a bag can grab one on the way in. I know.. not an easy solution. I give my cans to the homeless. I have a guy who collects in my neighborhood and I just put them out at the curb and he comes and gets them. glass and aluminum are really the only things that are recycled. former beach bum. I carried gallon jugs of water in the trunk and washed before I got in the car. kids were a big problem because they get sand in their swimsuits and bring it home that way. I dont have a solution for that.
Recycling reusable bags is a great idea. That way people don't need to keep buying them if they forget.
I'll start with the recyclable cans/bottles. For home owners in a house, they have the choice a: sort them out/take them over to center recycling and get money back or b:put them into the blue bin for the county to make the money. Option c: Schools/churches sometimes collect them for them to use on their programs. Public schools all used to collect on certain days awhile ago. If you think getting the few cents from a condo, which they could do themselves, provided the resident manager has a bin/space for the HOA, to do, otherwise, school/charity. Problem 1: Recycle bags, sometimes, you can never have too little, if there are multiple drivers/cars in the household or work place and you end up buying too much for the 'honey do' this list at the last minute coming home. Bus riders/pedestrians/bike riders have to plan even more so. Sand? Ayah....Let's see, rubber slippers, kicking up sand. Pockets, hats, anything touching the sandy ground, sticking on wet bodies, skin, in the hair. It's Hawaii. Is sand such a problem compared to mud on the car mats, muddy shoes, on the back of clothes from slippers? It's just sand. We can't see all the dirt that we track in but it comes into the house. Luckily, some communities in the drier areas, gets iron rich dust coming into the homes, which if the walls are wall, gets stained when it rains, but urban Honolulu doesn't have the iron rich soil as in Maui, Kauai, Central/Leeward that doesn't fly up on top condo floors. Trying to clean up iron rich dust, is harder, as its fine and dry. Wet it stains white walls, clothes. Remember, don't sweat the small stuff.
Mahalo for the suggestions. For the dirt, I don't mind because the shoes and slippers come off in the house. But the sand still lingers because it's stuck on the hair and skin. I guess that's just Hawaii 😅
3. You gotta wait to be fully dry. Just wait until your feet is super dry then you can just brush off the sand before you get in the car. Water not going help get the sand off.
And Malama da Aina, I always bring a used bag and a glove to the beach or walk and pick up what i come across and dispose of properly.
Condo resident here. 🙋♀Fortunately, my workplace collects recyclables, so I just bring mine to work at the end of every week. It's not a solution for everyone, but it's mine and I'm happy I can still recycle without being the one to take it for redemption.
That's a good idea. I could bring it to my workplace. Just can't get the deposit back.
If these are your only problems, oh well you doing good. Aloha from the Big Island. People are Lazy,
The return of paper bags, lots of tree farms in mainland southern states like Georgia.
Have a better memory and keep using those bags I’ve used the same 4 or 5 of them for 10 + years. Way better than before when u got free bags every time u shop.
What do you do with bags you receive as gifts?
Reusable bags will be trash someday. Buy doubled up brown paper bags from the grocery store checkout and reuse them instead. These are truly green bags. Recycle them when they get bust up.
You live in paradise, you don't have any problems. ✌🏼❤💋
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I thought I was getting ripped off when they would weigh the garbage bins so one time I counted every single can I put in before I went to the redemption center. And naturally the short changed me. Only in hawaii though. On mainland there is no 5 cents bottling fee. Nor do they charge for plastic bags or require you to bring your own bag in.
I figured the weight is not accurate. Can't really expect it to be, but still, it would be nice to get the full amount.
2. Sounds like the incentive to recycle is not high enough for the trouble. They should increase the bottle tax to 25 cents with the equivalent payout, then maybe it would be worth it. Or people will just use less bottles.
Okay brah....numba one pin um on your gaurage wall😉 pick one or two when you go shopping Make wall decoration😅.😊 Aloha No from Dallas to Hawai'i nei frenchie 73 Go bulldogs..Kaimuki
My sistah and braddahs went Kaimuki...in 60s tho
Mahalo for the suggestion. We don't have a garage wall, but if we ever buy a house, I'll make sure to do that 😅
Correction on the recycling. They collect $0.06 and return $0.05. They keep a penny on every single item to cover "administrative costs". When the program started they collected money for a full year before before anyone was allowed to return anything and during the first year when you could redeem there were all these news reports about the money piling up in the recycling account. Then after the second year of the redemption part of the program, there was no money and no gov't official could state where the money went, esp since they were expecting about a 70% return meaning for every 100 bottles/cans the state would keep $0.30.
For me the program was a loser. I didn't have a car so I would have to try to get these big bags of trash on the bus to go to a special recycle center...again a failure of the program because it was supposed to be where you buy you can return, I got hassled on the bus and when you consider the cost of the trip never mind my time, the two bags wouldn't cover the fare let along my time. I found a neighbor and gave the cans/bottles to them instead.
Mahalo for sharing the information. Not surprised that the money disappeared. Hard to keep track when things are self-reported.
You can start by having 3 sets of shoes/sandals. One for inside the house, one for going on the beach and walking outside and one for getting into the car. This assumes you can wipe all the sand off your feet and legs with a dedicated towel before getting into the car.
Interesting idea. I'd love to have that many slippers, but could be a challenge with two young kids. Maybe when they get older we can try something like that 🤙
@@HelloFromHawaii Aloha noi loa, at least you might be able to keep the floors of the front seats cleaner this way. 🙃
How about an AirTag in a can and see what really happens to the cans on our island... my guess is Landfill? Asia?
I'm assuming the cans are reused. Not sure about the bottles.
Use your shopping bags for collect rubbish around the yard and the beach. Leave some on the floor of your truck.
Cans can leave anywhere. The homeless will get'em quick.
Sand? Rinse off. Bring a gallon of water. Leave a scrub brush in your truck. Even that sticky sand on your ankle. Get one with the stiff plastic bristles.
Good idea with the gallon of water.
1. See if Goodwill or of the like (e.g. Salvation Army) will accept the reusable shopping bags as donations. Maybe it'll find a new owner that way. 2. Does where you live have a recycling area, akin to the blue recycling bins at houses? If not, maybe make note of public recycling bins next to trash cans, at areas you frequently visit. Not getting any cash deposit this way, but it's still better than throwing them away in the trash. 3. I think most people here have just accepted that grains of sand will inevitably follow you home after a trip to the beach, comes with the territory. Sorry, I can't help you here, but maybe somebody else in the comments section has a good solution.
There are recycling redemption locations, but not conveniently close. It's why I wish they would have reverse vending machines to just make it easier to recycle in smaller numbers.
Since you don't have that many to recycle, what if you put them in a box in your trunk along with the recyclable bags and whenever you come across someone in need, give them a bag of recycling. They will probably want the whole box, but that is probably okay too. For the sand, brah you on yo own. My Mom used to make us go naked in the back yard and shoot us all down when we were younger.
Mahalo for the suggestion. I'd worry about bugs in the trunk. Like I mentioned, unless we clean the cans really good, I suspect the roaches will get to them.
Interesting. But these could be topics for a Seinfeld episode, to be argued at the coffee shop by Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer.
lol. Yeah, I'm sure a comedian could work with this material and find the humor in it.
Cans - aren't the batuheads taking care of them? Sand -- I think I constantly had sand in my hair ages 5-25 haha. Bags - Eh, leave stuff you want to give away in the bags on the side of the road, it's the eternal cycle of bags, man.
For the cans, I've seen some guys with huge bags on bicycles. I wonder how much they actually get for collecting.
For problem 1 I am the bag retrieval guy when we go shopping. If we forget to grab bags out of the car when shopping my wife sends me back to the car so we haven't accumulated excess bags. For problem 2 I think churches and schools should collect bottles for extra cash a win win. For problem 3...well I'm pretty sure the sand breeds like rabbits once it gets in a car or house so good luck.
For problem one, I can relate. I've had to walk back to our place from the car. lol 😅
At least no more snake bites, alligators, and cougars (unless you attracting them lonely old ladies). 8P
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Damn l wish we could get our money back in norcal. The best thing we had was a vendor like machines that would give you cash back for each can. Then they took it out. Then we had a center that only gave you script for the store but since l made it a dual trip it wasn't bad. Now they have closes down all the recycling centers so it has just become another tax. I have no idea how holds the cash bat they are making bank. If it is going to work it has to be like the old days where you just took them back to the store while you went shopping. That worked best when it was a deposit. I just throw them away now because there is nothing where l am left to take them to. It is sad but l guess it is true. The road to hell is paved with good intentions
1. Leave bags in car. And bring them back when you go back.
2. Take recyclables to public schools and drop off.
3. Change kids clothes at beach and check pockets. Bat them off with the towel and shake off everything.
I didn't know that the schools collected them. Do they get the deposits?
@@HelloFromHawaii yeah, at Koko Head, the families drop off all their bottles and cans and it fills up a elephant sized cage. They sort it every 6 weeks and the money goes to the school!
Was that a rooster crowing ?
Yeah. Lots of them at Kakaako Waterfront Park.