KALAUPAPA, Moloka'i — The isolated cliffside community of Kalaupapa, a National Historical Park and Hansen's disease settlement, is planning one of the most aggressive waste diversion programs in the state — in part because it soon will no longer have a landfill.

Anything that can't be recycled, reused or composted will be baled up and either hauled up a 2,000-foot cliff by mule, or flown out daily to Honolulu by plane.

"We have no intention of establishing a (new) landfill," said Tom Workman, superintendent of the Kalaupapa National Historical Park.

The existing landfill, operated by the state Department of Health, will close in 2008, and the National Park Service has agreed to take over management of solid waste. The park service could find no appropriate new spot for a landfill, said Dave Kahl, a solid waste management engineer and consultant to the park service.

Kalaupapa is a haunting location, both geographically and historically. It is a low peninsula that juts out from the base of Moloka'i's rugged northern cliffs, accessible by boat, by air and on foot down a rugged switchback cliff trail — but not by any road. It was established as an isolation station for victims of Hansen's disease, and gained fame for the sacrifices of Father Damien and Mother Marianne Cope, who worked with the patients.

Today, only a few dozen patients continue to call Kalaupapa home, but they have been given the right to live out their lives in the tiny settlement on the western corner of the peninsula. The park service, recognizing it as a site of global historical interest, agreed to step in and preserve some of the history. The management of the settlement is a cooperative affair, between the park service and the state Department of Health, with consultation of the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, which owns much of the land under the village.

The Kalaupapa National Historical Park has prepared an environmental assessment on its plan for managing solid waste, on which it is accepting comments through March 12.

Kahl said the community now produces about 92 tons of waste per year, a figure he expects to increase two to three times in coming years.

The park service is planning an extensive composting system for landscaping waste, food waste, paper and other compostables. And it plans an extensive recycling program that would pull plastics, aluminum, steel, cardboard and other recyclables out of the waste stream. Glass would be crushed and used for fill on the peninsula. The program also calls for an aggressive campaign to reduce the amount of waste being generated.

Those things alone, Kahl said, have the potential to reduce the waste stream by more than 70 percent.

The recyclables would be baled and stored in shipping containers. Once or twice a year, a barge brings supplies to Kalaupapa. It generally goes back nearly empty, so it would be easy to load on the recyclables for shipping to Honolulu recycling markets, he said.

The remaining material would be compacted and baled into roughly 40-pound bundles. The plan consultants say their first choice would be to fly out daily the containers of baled, compacted trash for disposal in a Honolulu landfill. The second alternative, and backup plan, is to have mules haul 150 pounds at a time up the long cliffside trail, for disposal in Moloka'i's municipal landfill.

"It is estimated that a total of seven mules making five trips per week and carrying an average of 150 pounds of compacted refuse each would be required," the environmental assessment said. Mules already walk the trail daily, taking tourists up and down for visits to the park.

It is "a low-tech solution that is used in other national parks," but the mule option is cheaper than flying the trash; the landfill on O'ahu may be better managed, making it an environmentally preferable alternative, the assessment said.

Reach Jan TenBruggencate at jant@honoluluadvertiser.com.