Video courtesy Kevin Dayton, Hawaii County Office of the Mayor | Voice of Stephanie Salazar

An alliance of community volunteers and businesses launched the first of three days of illegal dump site cleanups in Hawaiian Ocean View Estates this weekend.

Keep Hawai’i Beautiful Inc., with Cynthia Young front and center, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Ka’u Ward and Mike Dubois – the coordinator for the Ka’u Prevent Illegal Dumping Task Force – joined forces with Hawaii County for the “The Big Cleanup” here at the intersection of Seabreeze and Iwalani Street.

The county says nearly 80 volunteers collected an estimated 62 tons of illegally dumped tires, batteries and other rubbish in the massive community cleanup.

Heavy equipment and operators were provided for the event by Arrow Hawaiian. Atlas Recycling Center and Big Island Scrap Metal provided roll-off containers to collect scrap metals and rubbish. Pacific Waste Hauling and Superior Sanitation Waste Hauling provided hauling to the Puuanahulu landfill. Other sponsors Ocean View Auto Parts & Precision Construction.

Along with this video, the county added:

Additional work days are planned for August 4 and August 5 using heavy equipment and operators from Goodfellow Bros. Inc. Those events will use excavators and other equipment to clean dump sites in lava tubes and other areas that are not readily accessible from subdivision roadways.

“The Big Cleanup” is being funded by a grant from the Hawai’i County Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, Office of the Mayor, and Hawai’i County Police Department, which helped to form the Ka’u Prevent Illegal Dumping Task Force. Funding to cover the cost of tire disposal is being provided by the Office of the Mayor.