They left something out of the big curbside recycling announcement last week, an important detail: What about the 5 cents?

Now that we've finally gotten the hang of separating glass from plastic and worked out a routine for rinsing the dregs and throwing away the caps; now that we've devoted a section of the car port for storing all that 'opala until Daddy has a rare Saturday free to load up the truck and wait in line in the hot sun at the redemption center; now that we have resigned acceptance of the surly recycling workers with their capricious rules ("Only weigh, no count"... "Only count, no weigh"... "Weigh, count, and then we pay you whatever is less") — after getting ma'a with all that, now the city wants our 5 cents per bottle?

It's true. The pilot curbside recycling program scheduled to start in late October in Hawai'i Kai and Mililani would have residents in those neighborhoods separate out their recyclables and bid aloha to the 5 cent deposit on every beer can, soda bottle and plastic water bottle.

Assuming Daddy has a beer or three after work, plus a couple Friday pau hana toasts with the neighbors, and the kids go through a six- pack of soda a week, plus Mama has her daily 3 p.m. Red Bull, that's close to a take-home of 20 bucks a month from the redemption center.

Twenty bucks a month per family plus a little extra for Tommy Twelvepack down the street AND you have to pay the city an extra $10 a month if you want to keep your second garbage pick-up day, an option only available to those in Mililani.

Hey, malama the aina and all that, but I want my nickel.

The PR material didn't mention it, but when you call the recycling program information line (768-3200) they phrase it this way:

"The city would realize the funds."

Maybe they were hoping we wouldn't "realize" that they'd be doing the realizing.

They make sure to specify the 5-cent deposit will go directly into offsetting the cost of the curbside recycling program, and not into the city's general fund. Of course, it won't be going into your household's general fund, either, unless you keep taking your bottles and cans to the redemption center while putting your newspaper and green waste on the curbside.

The ultimate goal, one that all can certainly agree upon, is a healthy, green O'ahu. But the crossed purposes between the state's bottle bill program and the city's new initiative should have been worked out before this hit the public, and the deposit question should have been addressed up front. As it is, at the official press conference and in three pages of online information, nobody comes out and says, "By the way, we're keeping your deposit."

By the way, they're keeping your deposit.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.