Office of Information Practices

U Memo 23-05
June 23, 2023
Requests for Solid Waste Records

A member of the public (Requester) made record requests to the County of Hawaii Department of Environmental Management (DEM-H) on June 2, 23, and 24, 2020.  DEM-H provided several records in response to the requests, but Requester appealed based on her belief that DEM-H had denied access to additional records that it could have found with sufficient search.  OIP considered the adequacy of DEM-H’s response to each request separately and ultimately concluded that DEM-H properly responded to all requests.

OIP found that DEM-H’s reading of the request made on June 2 was a reasonable one, and that the spreadsheet it provided in response was a concise presentation of the information Requester asked for:  current figures for how much solid waste was generated annually and how much of it was plastic.  OIP therefore concluded that DEM-H properly responded to the request made on June 2.  HRS § 92F-11 (2012).

DEM-H understood the request made on June 23, 2020, to be for the breakdown of plastics by type, based on the waste characterization study done in 2008, which was the most current information on the breakdown of types of waste in the waste stream.  OIP found that to be a reasonable reading of the request, and further found that DEM-H did in fact provide Requester with the waste stream records broken down by types of plastic that it maintained in the form of an online report that summarized the 2008 information in the body of the report and included the breakdown figures as an attachment.  OIP therefore concluded that DEM-H properly responded to the request made on June 23.  HRS § 92F-11.

The request made on June 24, 2020, was for “a copy of public records related to the data collected for the above linked report,” referring to the online report provided in response to the previous request.  DEM-H responded by advising that it did not maintain the requested records.  OIP found that DEM-H correctly understood the request to be for data collected in 2019 on the breakdown of plastics by type in the waste stream.  OIP found that in addition to the search DEM-H asserted it made, DEM-H had actual knowledge that no waste characterization data had been collected in 2019.  Because no 2019 waste characterization data existed, whether in DEM-H’s possession or the possession of a contractor, OIP found that DEM-H did not maintain the requested records.  OIP therefore concluded that DEM-H responded properly by advising Requester in writing that it did not maintain the requested records.  HRS § 92F-11.