HONOLULU -- The mayor's planned recycling program will cause a public health hazard, according to one City Council member.

That prediction came from a city Councilwoman Barbara Marshall, who said many people can't or won't pay more to have their trash picked up.

To encourage recycling, the mayor wants to cut back regular trash pickup to once a week. People who still want twice-a-week pickup would have to pay an additional $8 a month.

Marshall said many people won't pay.

"We would create a situation where we would have garbage stacking up and create a genuine health and safety issue," Marshall said.

The council's leader said everyone should pay to provide both recycling and adequate pickups.

"As with any program, as you roll it out there will have to be adjustments that have to be made, but basically we believe what we are proposing will meet most people's needs," said Frank Doyle of the city Refuse Division.

Even though the program is supposed to be up and running in just three months, there are still a lot of unanswered questions such as whether refuse workers are supposed to look in every can to make sure what's in it. The city is only now starting to talk to the union about that.

The city also confirmed Wednesday that the proposed fee may raise $8 million a year, five times more than the $1.5 million the recycling program will cost. The fee is not based on what the city needs, but on what people would be willing to pay.

"We thought this was a fair fee and one that had not a huge burden to the users," city Budget Director Ivan Lui-Kwan said.

The city is also still not sure whether city workers or private companies will sort the recyclables or how much it will cost condo and apartment owners to meet the requirement that they recycle, too.

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