Big Island residents can offer their views tomorrow on the county's long-term plans for trash disposal at a meeting on a planned environmental impact statement for a waste-reduction facility.

The county is considering a number of technologies for the facility, which is tentatively planned for an area next to the South Hilo Sanitary Landfill. The county has invited companies to submit their qualifications to develop either a plant that burns garbage to produce electricity or a thermal gasification plant that processes garbage into fuel.

The landfill is approaching its maximum capacity, and county officials expect it will have to be closed at some point in the years ahead. The new waste-disposal facility would accept much of the waste that now goes into the landfill.

The meeting will be from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Aupuni Conference Room in the new County Building on Pauahi Street in Hilo.

The meeting will include a public briefing on the status of the project along with information on site studies and health-risk assessments that are expected to be conducted as part of the environmental impact statement and permit applications.

For further information, contact Barbara Bell, director of environmental management, at 961-8083, or consultant Ron Terry at 982-5831.