M7.4: Local environmental services

I did a search for local environmental service programs in Honolulu, and I found for Honolulu there is a Honolulu Department of Environmental Services(ENV) and a Hawaii state Department of Health, Environmental Health Services Division with 3 branches, a sanitation branch, food and drug branch, and indoor and radiological health branch. The Honolulu Department of Environmental Services(ENV) is responsible for wastewater, sewer, trash pickups and green waste, making sure that our our island is clean and safe. In Honolulu, our community puts great effort into the motto of reduce,reuse and recycle, therefore for over a decade the ENV have implemented a 3 color trash bin system for each home and weekly scheduled pick up for each color bin. The gray bin would be for trash/refuse, the green bin for green waste, and the blue bin for recyclables. I really like this system because it helps to reduce the amount of trash in our landfills because many things could be reused or turned into some great things such as the green waste products are taken to a compost facility to turn tree branches and leaves into soil and mulch, glass are crushed for use in paving, and some are turned into artwork that is displayed around the city. This program helps to promote an friendly environmental lifestyle.

The Environmental Health Services Division is  focused on implementing statewide programs to assure the people of Hawaii on the safety of food and drug, controlling noise and radiation, improve indoor air quality, sanitation, and vector control. The food and safety branch in the last few years have started to implement a color coded placard program for food industries i Hawaii, where food safety inspectors will show up unannounced to inspect food services facilities to make sure that they are following protocols. Based on the inspection, a certain color placard will be given, if it's a red placard then the facility need to close and address the issues, if it's yellow, then it's a conditional warning and the issue needs to be resolved in a certain amount of time, if it's green then it mean's everything is up to date. These placard needs to be placed right at the front door and if the restaurant take it down then they will be fined and there is a possibility they will get shut down. I really like how strict this program is, because it is a great way to let consumers know and make decisions based on how the restaurant ranked and whether it is safe to eat at that facility. I was surprised that we had a radiation program because I don't hear about radiation much growing up in Hawaii, so I was not aware of it.