Pearl City junkyard hit with $475,000 in fines

News admin July 10, 2026 0 Comments

Pearl City junkyard hit with $475,000 in fines

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The state Department of Health is seeking about $475,000 in fines from ABC Junkyard in Waiawa after months of failed attempts to shut down the operation, which was still accepting waste as of Wednesday.

Expansion triggered complaints and violations

Neighbors, including Andre Perez, said they endured nine months of dust and noise after ABC Junkyard’s new operator, Kainoa Ah Sing, expanded the site from a car recycling scrap yard to accepting construction debris — sorting it and batching it for transport to recycling facilities or a construction landfill.

“How were they allowed to build and develop out a landfill with no monitoring and no regulating and no controls in place?” Perez said. “Where was the Department of Health? Where was the state regulatory agencies to manage this? They allowed this to blow out of control.”

ABC had applied for a permit to expand from auto scrap recycling to processing construction waste, but that permit had not been approved.

Violations documented over months

In February, the state issued its first notice of violation — a $55,000 fine for failing to protect Waiawa Stream, which borders three sides of the property.

On June 23, one day after Hawaii News Now used a drone to document the operation, health department inspectors estimated there were 21,000 tires on the property, 50 junked vehicles, 10,000 cubic yards of mixed trash, more than 3,000 cubic yards of appliances and scrap steel, and dangerously stored chemicals in dilapidated structures.

Photos from a September inspection had previously documented tons of construction waste alongside scrap, chemical spills, and thousands of tires.

Order served, operation continues

In its order served Wednesday, the department said ABC defied multiple warnings that it was operating illegally. The state is now adding two additional fines totaling $420,000.

When reporters visited the site Wednesday, large trucks and junk cars were arriving regularly, and dumpsters full of trash were parked on the access road.

The owner said he could still operate while appealing the orders. His attorney said they are taking steps to address the most serious issues and are working with the department to reduce fines, noting the amounts are high enough that the company may not have sufficient funds left to pay for cleanup. They said they still hope to return to the junk business with proper permits.