Building on the success of Hawaiʻi’s first reuse center, Recycle Hawaiʻi partnered with Hawaiʻi County to expand the Transfer Station Reuse Center network island-wide — turning a single pilot into a lasting infrastructure of eight community reuse locations that continue to serve residents today.
After demonstrating the viability of the Transfer Station Reuse Center model at Keaʻau, Recycle Hawaiʻi worked closely with the Hawaiʻi County Department of Environmental Management (DEM) to replicate and expand the model at transfer stations across the island. This public-nonprofit partnership was a natural fit: the County owned and operated the transfer station infrastructure, while Recycle Hawaiʻi brought the community relationships, operational experience, and Zero Waste expertise needed to make reuse centers work.
Over time, the collaboration produced reuse centers at eight locations: Hilo, Keaʻau, Kealakehe (Kailua-Kona), Keauhou, Lāupāhoehoe, Pāhoa, Waimea, and Waiʿohinu Transfer Stations. Each center accepts gently used goods — clothing and accessories, school and craft supplies, toys and baby items, books and media, office supplies, and usable latex paint — and makes them available to community members at no or low cost.
The Hilo Reuse Center, operated in direct partnership with Recycle Hawaiʻi on Hoʻolaulima Road adjacent to the Hilo Recycling & Transfer Station, became a flagship of the island’s reuse infrastructure. The success of the collaborative model demonstrated what is possible when a committed nonprofit and a responsive county government work together toward a shared Zero Waste vision.
- Expanded from 1 pilot to 8 reuse centers island-wide through the Recycle Hawaiʻi–County DEM collaboration
- Reuse centers now operate at: Hilo, Keaʻau, Kealakehe, Keauhou, Lāupāhoehoe, Pāhoa, Waimea, and Waiʿohinu Transfer Stations
- Accepted materials include: clothing, accessories, school and craft supplies, toys, baby items, books, media, office supplies, and usable latex paint
- 355 tons of goods diverted from the landfill in fiscal year 2016–17 alone through the reuse center network
- Demonstrated the power of public-nonprofit partnership in delivering community-scale Zero Waste infrastructure
The eight-site reuse center network that Recycle Hawaiʻi helped build with Hawaiʻi County is one of the most tangible and lasting legacies of our work. These centers serve thousands of island residents every year, divert hundreds of tons of material from the landfill, and reinforce the core value that underpins everything we do: that waste is not inevitable, and that the things we no longer need can find new life in the hands of someone who does. This is reuse infrastructure at its most practical, most community-centered, and most enduring.
Support Recycle Hawaiʻi’s reuse and resource recovery programs across Hawaiʻi Island.
