The Honolulu City Council has approved a subsidy for recycling firms that’s estimated to cost taxpayers $600,000, overriding a veto by Mayor Kirk Caldwell.
Nearly 90 percent of the subsidy will support Schnitzer Steel, a metals recycling company based in Oregon that reported $1.9 billion in revenue last year.
The vote to approve Bill 50 was 7-2. The bill, which will take effect Jan. 1, 2017, establishes a 25 percent discount on tipping fees that recycling companies pay when they bring a certain amount of solid waste to the landfill and the city’s waste-to-energy facility.