HILO, Hawai'i — After years of debate and planning for garbage-to-energy or some new technology to dispose of the 200 tons of rubbish that East Hawai'i produces each day, a Big Island County Council member is suggesting the county should go back to basics and simply build a new landfill.

Councilman Dominic Yagong is arguing that the county may be able to convert 40 acres with a deep quarry pit next to the existing Hilo landfill into a lined, modern landfill that meets federal environmental requirements for a fraction of what it would cost to build the proposed waste-to-energy incinerator.

Yagong then wants to use the millions of dollars he believes the county would save with a new landfill to launch major recycling initiatives.

"Having this proposal brought forward provides the county with an option that will be a heck of a lot cheaper, it is exactly what we've been doing for the last 60 or 70 years, and it's in a location that is widely accepted as being where we handle our solid-waste stream for East Hawai'i," he said.

The county is planning to extend the life of the existing landfill by another two years or more by increasing the slope of the sides of the landfill mound, but the facility will eventually reach capacity and have to close.

The county plans to step up its recycling efforts, but will still need a way to dispose of large volumes of trash from Hilo, Puna and the rest of East Hawai'i when the landfill closes.

One proposal to truck trash to the landfill in West Hawai'i was ruled out after Kona and South Kohala residents objected. Other plans ranged from shipping trash off-island in barges to aerobic composting.

Most recently, the thrust of the county effort has been to solicit proposals for a garbage-to-energy incinerator, a smaller version of O'ahu's H-Power facility that burns trash to produce electricity.

This week, the county will begin evaluating proposals for a waste-to-energy facility that could burn 200 tons a day, and is expected to cost $30 million to $40 million to build. County officials contend such projects are "environmentally friendly, sustainable, provide a renewable source of clean energy and have proven to be economically viable."

The facility would generate enough electricity to power about 5,000 homes, but would also cost money to operate, factors that a panel of evaluators will factor in as it weighs which, if any, of the proposals will work for the county.

Yagong is concerned the county has become too focused on garbage-to-energy, and has introduced a resolution to instruct Mayor Harry Kim's administration to amend the county's Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan so a new landfill can be considered.

"What I'm trying to do is to be able to put on the table an option for the administration as well as the County Council," Yagong said. "Right now, it's the incinerator or nothing."

Two major costs of building a new landfill in Hilo would be the cost of digging to create cells for the rubbish, and the cost of disposing of the rainwater that would seep into the landfill.

Earlier proposals for a new Hilo landfill assumed that water or leachate from the landfill would have to be pumped to the Hilo sewage treatment plant for disposal, and it would cost about $13 million to build a system to accomplish that.

However, Yagong said the county can now use proven technology to treat the water on the landfill site, which he believes would save half of that cost.

Better yet, Yagong said, most of the necessary excavation for a new landfill has been done already during years of quarrying operations on the state land he wants to use for the project. The quarry pit is more than 60 feet deep.

The county estimated in 2004 that a new landfill would cost $23 million, but Yagong says his proposal would cost considerably less.

The Kim administration hasn't endorsed Yagong's plan, but hasn't publicly opposed it either. Michael Dworsky, solid waste division chief of the Department of Environmental Management, said he doesn't see any technical reason why Yagong's plan wouldn't work.

"I'd like to have options available to me," Dworsky said. "I don't want to be handicapped in the department from looking at all potential opportunities to try to recommend the very best thing for the county."

Reach Kevin Dayton at kdayton@honoluluadvertiser.com.