HONOLULU -- It now could take one or two more months before Oahu's garbage is shipped off to the U.S. mainland, health officials told KITV.

The barge that was to haul the trash out of Oahu had been canceled, KITV first reported on Tuesday.

The city was starting to get worried about the garbage piling up at the docks, officials said.

Tons of garbage was supposed to have been loaded onto a barge on Wednesday. It was to be shipped off to a landfill in the Pacific Northwest. However, state and city officials received word late on Wednesday of yet another delay.

"The new date is either late January or February before the first shipment leaves Oahu," Honolulu Environmental Services Director Tim Steinberger said.

The company needs a USDA permit. The city was originally looking at Washington State as a final destination for the trash, but the company has now added Oregon to the list, Steinberger said.

The city said it is costing Hawaiian Waste Systems a lot of money to keep the garbage on the docks. That is why it asked the Department of Health to store it somewhere else. The health officials are expected to be out there, the first thing on Monday.

The city is concerned about the mounting garbage.

"There is a liability associated with it until it's properly handled," Steinberger said.