A container of what appears to be a type of oil that first washed up on the beach at Kailua Bay during New Year’s Day weekend — along with tons of other marine debris — was taken away and disposed of by city workers Friday morning, three weeks after it came ashore.

The amount of time it took to remove the potentially hazardous container spotlights again the jurisdictional issues involved with marine debris cleanup. State crews are responsible for debris in the water and up to the high-water line of the sand, while the city is responsible for debris above that.

But understaffed parks crews tend to only regularly clear trash bins and the areas around them.

On Friday a crew from the city Department of Parks and Recreation removed the plastic container of oil from next to two trash bins along Beach Right of Way 89-A, said department spokesman Nathan Serota. Beach access 89-A is the public alleyway to the beach from North Kalaheo Avenue near Kailuana Place.

The container was then taken to the Kapaa Transfer Station, said Serota, who added that the city first consulted with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

After the Honolulu Star-Advertiser asked about the container of oil Thursday, DLNR spokeswoman Deborah Ward said she contacted the state Department of Health’s Hazard Evaluation and Emergency Response Branch about the issue. The HEER office promised to have a contractor remove the bin either late Thursday or early Friday.

Serota said the city coordinated with the state before making the removal Friday.

Toward the end of the first week of January, parks department crews removed loads of marine debris from in or near trash bins after several days of discussions with DLNR. (Several thousand pounds had already been taken to a transfer station, according to 808 Cleanups President Michael David Loftin, who called the amounts washing up there the worst he’s seen.)

Both the state and city encourage the public to move marine debris away from the sand, where it could wash back into the ocean and pose a danger to sea creatures, and to place the former flotsam in or next to trash cans.

But they also warn people not to personally remove objects that may be contaminated or otherwise cause a hazard or danger to themselves or others. Instead, they should contact the state online and fill out DLNR’s marine debris report form or call 587-0405.

Kailua resident Bruce Ha said he followed those instructions and reported the container to DLNR the first week of January. On Jan. 17, Ha said, he received an email from a DLNR employee who said a city crew was sent to locate and remove the container but could not find it based on his description.

Ha said that when he made his initial report, he sent along a photo as well as GPS coordinates.

Ha was also instructed that he should make another report if he sees the item in place.

“You could also consider moving the items to the nearest city or state trash collection facility if you are able,” the email said.

A few days later, after no action had been taken by the state or city, someone moved the container from the beach to next to the trash bins in the right of way, Ha said. “I guess the city crew that went to the site didn’t see it or recognize it among all the other marine debris that had been piling up at the trash cans.”

He described the situation as “kind of like the fruitcake that keeps getting passed around from person to person.”

He never considered the notion of removing the container himself to a trash collection site “because I know they won’t accept it,” Ha said. “Then I would be stuck with it.”