Perpetual Reuse in Hilo Newsletters
Zero Waste Event Prompts the Establishment of
an “Eat Aina” (EA) Workgroup for Reuse in Hilo
Since collaborating with Perpetual, Zero Waste Hawaiʻi Island (ZWHI) had its first public community gathering on August 12 at Aunty Sally’s Lūʻau Hale in Hilo. With a little over 20 participants, the Hoʻopili ʻĀina Gathering included pule, ʻoli, kūkākūkā, and ʻai pono.
It is said that when you ʻai pono, you eat beyond the food. You eat the relationship to the life of the food and all the hands that came together to plate it; you eat and are sustained by the relationship to the farmer, the fisherman, the fruit, the tree - and the beloved people who prepared it to be eaten.
Present at the gathering was: puaʻa kālua donated by the Keawekane ʻohana of Panaʻewa, chicken long rice from Ka ʻUhane Hemolele Church in Keaukaha, kalo and ʻulu from the Hawaiʻi ʻUlu Co-Op, hōʻio salad donated by So Juicy Hawaiʻi, dry aku and ahi donated by Keaukaha General Store, and papaya bread, māmaki tea, and citrus juice made with local ingredients, donated by a kupuna aloha. To minimize waste, we used ZWHI’s dish library of Corelle plates and stainless steel utensils.
Participants of the Hoʻopili ʻĀina Gathering learned about the potential for a reusable foodware system in Hilo, which would supplement or replace the current system of single-use disposable foodware like plastic bento boxes, clamshell containers and commercially compostable bowls. Also discussed was Hilo’s trash transfer to Puʻuanahulu in North Kona. In addition to input on the reusable foodware system design, materials, and return incentives, participants expressed support for the re-contextualization of “zero waste and reuse culture” to privilege aloha ʻāina worldview. In addition to considering systems of reuse, we were urged to advocate for the repair of food and family systems, ancestral practices, relationship to land, indigenous education, and for each person to “take responsibility for their own waste.”
As a result of these conversations, ZWHI created an “Eat Aina” (EA) Workgroup to do more to apply ourselves to the indigenous people, programs, and wisdom that must be at the forefront of zero waste leadership and initiatives in Hilo and beyond. We are so grateful to the participants who attended the Hoʻopili ʻĀina Gathering; the manaʻo that came forth will guide the work that is to come.