Despite insisting that curbside recycling isn't dead, Mayor Mufi Hannemann yesterday scrapped plans to begin an islandwide program considered essential to addressing Honolulu's mounting trash problem.

The decision came after the city has spent $3 million and two years setting up the program, and it leaves nearly 50,000 residents with big blue bins and no firm plans to use them.

Proponents called it a setback for a city that is running out of landfill space and whose recycling efforts lag behind many parts of the country.

"Is this the end for curbside recycling? Absolutely not," Hannemann said. But the program has been plagued by a number of delays and he didn't think it made sense to keep telling people that it would be ready to start soon when he saw legal challenges delaying the start well into 2006.

Residents weren't sure what to think.

Frances Dolesh grew up with curbside recycling elsewhere and now lives in Kailua. She said Hawai'i's recycling policies seem jarring.

"I was just shocked that one of the most beautiful places in the world doesn't have recycling," she said.

Hannemann said he tried to work with the program he inherited from former Mayor Jeremy Harris. He said he originally thought the main hurdle was union resistance. But after he worked out differences with the United Public Workers, he found more problems.

After looking at the legal challenges among the three companies that submitted bids in May to operate the curbside recycling program, Hannemann said he realized that the delays were likely to drag on, first in the administrative challenge, then any resulting appeal made by any of the companies.

And that's what made him abandon the plan to have city crews pick up bottles, cans, newspapers, cardboard and other nondeposit containers for the foreseeable future.

Hannemann said officials are looking at using the 64-gallon blue bins for expanded green waste pickup — such as grass clippings and tree branches — and maybe newspaper collection, but haven't worked out the details.

Dolesh, a special education teacher, recently moved to O'ahu from Maui.

When she saw the big blue bin outside her Kailua home, she was impressed that Honolulu had curbside recycling. So she put her recyclables in the big container — a mix of cardboard, 2-liter bottles and some HI-5 containers — and rolled the bin out.

When she found out that no pickup was scheduled anytime soon, she had to roll the bin back. She was surprised that the city delivered the containers before the program was set to go.

"I never heard of such a thing," she said.

Originally from New Jersey, Dolesh grew up with curbside recycling but said she got used to the Maui system of dropping off at community centers. "The hours are good and it's convenient," she said.

But overall she thinks that Hawai'i needs to start curbside recycling.

"That's a sure way to get people to recycle. Lots of people just throw it in the garbage. People don't really think it's a big deal," she said.

Enchanted Lake resident Brandon Waddell can't quite believe the city delivered bins without a plan in place. "They already spent all the money to get all the bins out there. It's not too smart," he said.

Waddell said he used to put recyclables in the bin but now just uses it as an extra trash can, emptying it himself into the bin that gets picked up. Without curbside pickup, he just throws away his recyclables, even the containers on which he pays a deposit. He said it's not worth the time or the gas involved to take the containers to a center.

City Council member Ann Kobayashi agreed with Hannemann's assessment that curbside recycling may still work in the future. But for the short term, she supports the idea of backing away from the ambitious plan and trying other options.

She supports expanding recycling bins in more city parks and working with schools and other nonprofit organizations to collect the deposits.

Kobayashi said the council left $4 million in this year's budget to start curbside recycling but urged the administration to work with schools and other community groups to try to let them collect the deposit containers.

"We had our doubts because of all the legal problems," she said.

If the city can add redemption centers and put out more bins for recycling in convenient areas, there may be less of a need for a large-scale, city-run program, Kobayashi said. But she believes the city must expand recycling long term because of the limited space available in Honolulu's landfill.

She said she's puzzled that the Harris administration ordered so many bins so early, at a cost of $3 million for leasing them for seven years.

"I thought we purchased them," she said. "Nobody said they were leased."

No one from the recycling companies or the United Public Workers could be reached to comment yesterday on the challenges or the mayor's decision.

Other residents would like to see more recycling.

Wayne Murakami of Kaimuki moved home to the Islands after 40 years in California. He said his family got used to the convenience of curbside pickup and got into the habit of sorting out everything from cardboard and paper and carting the deposit containers off to a center for cash.

"I'm not really an environmentalist," Murakami said. "It was something that you do because it was there. We got used to recycling."

Murakami said more people will recycle if it's curbside and convenient. Without that, he suspects, a lot of things that could be recycled just get tossed.

City Council member Charles Djou said he's frustrated by the delays. "I'm very disappointed. I fought very hard to make sure funding stayed in the budget."

Djou, an attorney, said the worst part is that most people agree that curbside recycling is good public policy but it's being delayed by legal snags.

"We can't seem to get it right because of legal mechanics," Djou said. "We have the money; we have the desire."

He isn't faulting Hannemann's decision.

"I think he sincerely wants recycling," Djou said. "Can't we do this right?"

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.