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Cleanup begins at landfill near Kaneohe

A patch of old landfill at a military training area south of Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Base in Hawaii will get a new life this fall.

Marine officials will start a $2 million cleanup effort Friday at Bellows Air Field on the island of Oahu.

The site, just less than an acre, was used during the 1940s as a burn pit and solid waste dump, said Maj. Alan Crouch, a spokeswoman for Marine Corps Bases-Hawaii.

“This stuff has been there for a long time,” he said.

Wires, cable, scrap metal, cans and glass bottles are buried a few feet under the sand there. The site runs up to the shore and abuts one of four training areas at Bellows Field.

It had received a relatively clean bill of health in a recent environmental investigation, Crouch said. Contaminant levels fell short of federal limits.

But military officials want to reduce erosion along that part of the beach and free more room for amphibious training, Crouch said.