PU'UNENE, Maui — The county has hauled away more than 600 derelict vehicles from roads and highways here since early August when Gov. Linda Lingle declared the island a disaster area.

But some maintain that the effort is barely making a dent.

"I keep thinking there are going to be fewer cars, but then more keep showing up," said Marylyn Baker, a resident manager of a Ma'alaea condominium complex, noting that a rusting hulk with a police sticker at the end of her road, Hau'oli Street, was still waiting for a tow truck.

County officials contend that while they are hauling as fast as they can, some people appear to be taking advantage of the island's junked-car crisis by ditching vehicles roadside and thereby avoiding the $300-plus cost of disposing a vehicle junked on private property, said Don Couch, executive assistant to Maui Mayor Alan Arakawa.

"I see different cars out there all the time," Couch said.

Zenna MacGregor of Kula said she sees the same thing. "It seems like more than ever people are junking their cars on the side of the road," she said. "It's sad to see people put their rubbish on the side of the road and disrespect the 'aina in such a way."

Maui County's derelict-vehicle crisis began last year after the state Department of Health shut down the county's former scrap-metal contractor for failing to meet solid-waste standards. When the county tried to find a replacement contractor, regulatory obstacles and legal challenges complicated the matter.

Without a qualified contractor to remove hazardous waste from crushed junked cars and other scrap-metal items, the program ground to a halt. Vehicle storage areas quickly filled up and derelict cars where left where they had been abandoned. Last month, an estimated 5,000 abandoned and derelict cars littered Maui's landscape.

The problem has been a source of frustration in the community. Disgusted and tired of feeling powerless to change the situation, Dino Segovis of Pa'ia created www.mauirecycling.net to provide an online discussion forum.

"I felt shame and embarrassment when tourists asked me why there were so many junk cars along the highways," said Segovis, a mechanic.

The governor signed an emergency proclamation on Aug. 1 that declared the disaster area, citing "extraordinary" conditions on Maui's roads including potential health and safety hazards. The proclamation included a six-month waiver that allows the county to store derelict vehicles on two acres of county-owned agriculturally zoned land in Pu'unene, which has space for up to 2,700 derelict vehicles. The county then restarted its towing contracts.

While county-hired trucks limit tows to vehicles on public property, Jan Dapitan, who heads Community Workday, Maui's litter control program, said the junked-car crisis also is exploding on private property.

"There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of them," Dapitan said, adding that many are illegally dumped on private property owners.

Couch said residents with old clunkers must take responsibility for their cars by either paying for disposal or donating junkers to nonprofit agencies.

The crisis will further subside within a few weeks as a county-approved scrap-metal contractor begins operations in the Kahului industrial area, said county officials, noting that Mike Kitagawa of Kitagawa Towing & Transport has the properly zoned land, necessary permits, equipment to process vehicles and the required insurance. County officials also are continuing to develop another location for scrap-metal recycling in the Pu'unene area as a long-term solution.

Reach Timothy Hurley at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com.