What is the H-POWER facility?
H-POWER is a waste-to-energy facility operated by the City and County of Honolulu in Kapolei that incinerates municipal solid waste and converts it to electricity for the island's power supply.
Located in Kapolei on Oahu's central leeward coast, the H-POWER facility (Honolulu Program of Waste Energy Recovery) is the island's primary waste-to-energy plant. It burns municipal solid waste at high temperatures to generate steam, which drives turbines that produce electricity fed directly into Hawaiian Electric's grid. The facility has been operating since 1990 and remains a cornerstone of Oahu's solid waste management system.
H-POWER accepts general municipal solid waste from residential, commercial, and industrial sources across Oahu. Items typically include household refuse, cardboard, paper, food scraps, yard trimmings, and general trash. The plant does not accept hazardous materials, electronics, construction debris, or certain metals that require separate processing. Most waste collected by residential trash services and many commercial haulers ends up at H-POWER rather than landfills.
For junk removal and hauling businesses, H-POWER represents the final destination for much of the non-recyclable material they collect. Licensed junk removal providers typically sort incoming loads to separate recyclables and salvageable items before sending remainder loads to H-POWER or to the island's landfills for materials the facility cannot process. Understanding H-POWER's material restrictions helps haulers avoid fines and delays when delivering loads to the waste stream.