KAPOLEI, Hawaii — At first glance, it does not look much like garbage. More than 20,000 tons of it have been shrink-wrapped into green bales that are neatly stacked, ready to ship about 2,300 miles across the Pacific to the mainland as an another export — “opala,” as garbage is called in Hawaiian.

But the trash’s passage has been delayed again and again since it first began piling up here in the tropical heat last September. Now, when the wind changes, it offers a pungent reminder of how Oahu’s latest plan to dispose of some of its trash has gone awry.

For a 44-mile-long volcanic island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, in one of the few parts of the United States where Interstate highways do not actually go between states, the options for getting rid of garbage are limited.

That is how officials here hit upon the idea of shipping some of their garbage to the mainland, at least temporarily. But what was supposed to be a quick fix has turned into a long-running problem after the company that was hired to ship the trash failed to get necessary permits from the federal government.