The city's upcoming pilot residential curbside recycling program has raised concerns from some Mililani residents that additional recycling bins will make it difficult to comply with homeowner association rules.

The city will begin pilot residential curbside recycling programs in Mililani and Hawai'i Kai the week of Oct. 29, serving about 20,000 households, including about 12,000 in Mililani. Households will have three bins — for trash, mixed recyclables and green waste.

While Mililani residents in general appear to be supportive of curbside recycling, some residents worry that it will be difficult to store all three bins in compliance with a Mililani Town Association rule that prohibits storage bins from being visible from an adjacent street.

The issue could also potentially be a concern for some residents in other communities if the curbside recycling program expands islandwide.

Mililani households already have a blue 64-gallon recycling bin from a previous curbside recycling pilot program in addition to a 96-gallon gray trash bin. They will receive a green 96-gallon bin for green waste.

Mililani Mauka/Launani Valley Neighborhood Board chairman Dean Hazama said the curbside recycling project is a positive measure but that complying with the rule while storing at least three bins may be a burden on some residents.

Some other Mililani residents also brought up the issue during a recent city community briefing.

"The community wants to participate in the pilot, but they do have some issues that are going to come up," said Hazama. "That's what the pilot period's for, to bring up these issues so that they can be resolved before this program gets implemented islandwide."

Mililani Town Association general manager Calvin Maeda said the association will be flexible and will work with homeowners, but that it can't completely disregard the rule.

"MTA will be considering the fact that it's a test program and let it run its course while evaluating what's the best way to address whatever hiccups come up along the way," he said.

Maeda said the association can make provisions within design guidelines in terms of what homeowners can do to minimize the visibility of the bins, such as wood fencing to shield the container. That, however, would mean at least some cost to the homeowner.

The association has issued — although not often — citations to some homeowners for visible trash bins, but in those cases bins are usually left on the sidewalk after trash pickup or at the entrance of the driveway, Maeda said.

He said the association will tell homeowners in its November newsletter "that as much as possible we would like you to continue putting your bins in a discreet place where it's not visible from the street."

"We're going to evaluate problems as they occur and work with the homeowners," he said.

City recycling coordinator Suzanne Jones said the city learned from the previous Mililani voluntary curbside recycling project — which used one bin for both green waste and recyclables — that having separate color-coded bins is essential for the program to be successful.

Jones, a Mililani resident, said she doesn't have a problem storing three bins and that each bin has a footprint of about 2 feet by 2 feet.

In the meantime, Hazama said he asked City Councilman Donovan Dela Cruz to look into creating a city ordinance allowing homeowners to store refuse and recycling bins even within sight from the street as long as the bins are on private property and don't pose any health or safety hazards.

"Looking to the bigger picture, it's not just going to be a Mililani issue," he said, adding that it may be an issue with other homeowner associations as well.

"We're trying to come up with something so that we can do the recycling, participate in the program, and make sure that everything's OK for all the residents so that nobody gets in trouble," Hazama said.

Reach Lynda Arakawa at larakawa@honoluluadvertiser.com.