Aloha Stadium steel begins journey to recycling

News admin June 27, 2026 0 Comments

Aloha Stadium steel begins journey to recycling

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Developers of Aloha Stadium say the demolition process is about a month ahead of schedule, generating thousands of tons of steel and other debris bound for destinations around the world.

Steel headed overseas

Excavators working for Northwest Demolition and Dismantling use hydraulic shears to reduce large steel trusses, beams and columns for recycling. The contractor estimates more than 90% of Aloha Stadium can be recycled, and because the property is large enough, all of it can be processed on site.

“At least we’re being environmentally sensitive to not put it in the landfills and to reuse this steel, recycle it,” said Stanford Carr, the Aloha Stadium Entertainment District developer.

Only a small portion of debris removed from the stadium’s interior spaces is considered waste, headed for a construction landfill in Nanakuli.

Concrete to be reused in new stadium

Concrete from the demolition can be broken up and used to form the sidelines of the new stadium, joining the existing end zones lower decks to create the bowl of the planned 31,000-seat facility.

“That saves us $90 million from demolition and building a new structure,” Carr said.

Processing and shipping the scrap

Excavator operators cut and tear the steel into pieces no larger than 5 feet by 2 feet — small enough for shipping.

The pieces are stockpiled at Radius Recycling at Campbell Industrial Park, where they await shipment. Sam Nahulu, the buyer for Radius Recycling, said the work is impressive but carries personal meaning. Nahulu played football in the stadium.

“Just fun times, fond memories, right? And to see the pieces going by now in pieces. It’s not easy to see, but it’s a part of progress,” he said.

Market forces and shipping costs

Radius Recycling’s bid for the steel is based on how much handling it requires and what Asian recyclers are willing to pay for the scrap.

“We got to get a certain price point in order for us to make a profit. We are a for-profit company,” Nahulu said.

Scrap steel is a worldwide commodity. The current price is about $380 per ton, or roughly 19 cents per pound.

The current pressure on the bottom line is the cost of energy, which has risen since the Iran War. It takes energy to process and move steel on the island, as well as to ship it to Vietnam — the next destination for the material.

The steel will travel aboard the Budva, a Montenegro-registered bulk cargo carrier. Trucks from Radius were lining up Friday for a ship that comes every three months.

Twelve thousand tons of steel from the stadium will be shipped overseas.

Carr said the recycling companies bear the risk from rising energy costs and lower scrap prices.

“I always say one man’s opala is another man’s treasure,” Carr said.

“So you could say that a bit of, or a lot of, Aloha Stadium — we’re spreading the Aloha all over the world, depending on the highest bidder,” he said.