HILO, Hawaii – Hopes are high in the Hawaiian homestead community of Pana’ewa that the county will cancel the contract for the planned East Hawaii Organics Facility.

Last weekend, Big Island Video News filmed a sign waving on the highway in Hilo, demonstrating opposition to the project that will handle and process green waste, making compost for use by residents.

“Imagine for the rest of your life smelling mulch, said Pana’ewa resident Nalu Borges. “They’re saying you have to have a four mile radius away from that facility, but the closest house is going to be a thousand feet away.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Borges said. “The quality of life for people, and for the children especially, is not good.”

In an earlier interview with Harry Kim, the mayor told Big Island Video News that he was putting the project under review.

In a Feb. 5 article in the Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Kim took it a step further, saying he was “seriously considering terminating the contract.”

The county signed off on a final environmental assessment for the privately run Hawaii Integrated Resource Recovery Facility in West Hawaii that would divert waste materials from the County’s Landfills, including organic materials.