A move to require the city administration to consider shipping municipal garbage out of the state won support from key members of the City Council yesterday.

City Councilman Todd Apo, who represents the Leeward Coast community that contains O'ahu's only municipal landfill, said he thinks it's important to consider shipping as an option when dealing with the critical, controversial issue.

But he stopped short of introducing a bill that would actually require the city to ship waste. "The point of the resolution is keeping options open for our city," Apo said. "This resolution is not saying that the city go out and start shipping their waste."

City Environmental Services Director Eric Takamura said he believes shipping garbage off-island could cost the city $34 million a year — part of the money now collected from tipping fees paid by companies that dispose of garbage in the city-owned landfill.

"We would lose revenue because we would not get tipping fees," Takamura said, yet the city couldn't close the landfill entirely. "We don't think shippers can ship everything that goes to the landfill."

The state permit for dumping municipal solid waste at Waimanalo Gulch landfill expires in mid-2008, but the city wants to expand the dump and continue operating it for at least 15 more years.

The Leeward Coast community has complained for years about being host to the municipal landfill, other dumps and a power plant, coupled with the belief that the coast doesn't get the resources and attention provided to more urban communities.

In the past, at least two companies in the Pacific Northwest expressed interest in bidding on a city contract to ship waste out of state for disposal.

Takamura said he also would be concerned that reducing the amount of waste going to the garbage-to-energy plant could require more imported oil to fuel the island's electrical demands. And less waste going into the system could force up the cost for other solutions by making them less cost-effective, he said.

Takamura said the city picks up 44 percent of the waste generated on O'ahu, with private haulers handling the other 56 percent.

City spokesman Bill Brennan said the city has been told that the state Department of Health is considering a private company's request to ship garbage it collects from Campbell Industrial Park to the Mainland.

"We're concerned about what impact on city operations that having a private hauler begin shipping garbage out of state might have," Brennan said.

Takamura said the city expects to update the overall disposal plan this year when the 25-year integrated solid waste master plan is completed. He said a draft of the plan is expected to be complete by April, although some related reports will emerge sooner.

He said he believes it's premature to have the city look at shipping as an alternative, but Apo disagreed, saying it's appropriate to look at all options while making a plan to decide what's best.

City officials say O'ahu generates about 1.76 million tons of waste each year, with about 600,000 tons a year processed at the H-Power plant that burns the garbage to convert it to energy used to produce electricity.

Takamura also said he thought a contractor could ship out only about 30,000 tons a year. The city and private trash haulers dump about 800 tons of trash in Waimanalo Gulch landfill each day. An additional 600 tons per day includes ash from garbage incinerated at the H-Power electricity generation plant.

But when Apo asked him if he got the figure from contractors interested in bidding on the project, he said that was information he got "just on the street." Apo had heard an estimate of 200,000 tons a year could be shipped.

Makakilo resident Robert Kaialau, who has been active in pushing for other landfill alternatives, said he understood the wish to consider options. "This is a very serious issue," he said.

Wilma Namumnart, assistant chief of the city's refuse division, said the city is beginning to review a study of the composition of the waste on O'ahu and expects to tell the council about the initial findings in a month.

Takamura's executive assistant, Martin Okabe, also told the council that the city expects to put out a request for proposals for an alternative waste-to-energy conversion facility on Tuesday.

Okabe said it would take several months more to complete a report and at least three years of construction.

Councilman Nestor Garcia said he supported keeping the option open but wasn't eager to transport trash to another state.

"I have some reservations about shipping our 'opala to the Mainland," Garcia said. He was reminded of the concerns that came with shipping Hawai'i inmates to Mainland prisons as a cheaper alternative to keeping them behind bars in the Islands.

Reach Robbie Dingeman at rdingeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.