A heap of brush, old electronics, and beer bottles recently dumped alongside Vesey Street in Devonshire is only one part of a troubling trend according to the activist group Keep Bermuda Beautiful.

?We need stronger legislation to come down on illegal dumping and littering. It?s a plague,? said KBB executive Susan Harvey.

She said the problem is worst in the Boaz Island area, but also bad wherever there is a quiet neighbourhood. Truckers seem to choose quiet areas because they can go largely undetected.

?The difficulty is to catch them when no one is looking,? said Mrs Harvey. ?No one sees them. We need enforcement.?

The Ministry of Works and Engineering is already busy at work on the problem, according to Amy Harvey who is trying to revamp the Waste and Littering Control Act (1987) and give it more teeth.

?At the moment you actually have to see them do it, catch them in the act, before you can prosecute,? she said.

Even if an illegally dumped load has an address among the debris, or other identifying information, that evidence isn?t enough to go after the culprit. ?Unless you see them do it, we can?t prove they did it,? Ms Harvey explained.

She hopes a revised law will allow them to trace the source of the dumping, build a case, and then prosecute.

Ideally, officials would like to give ticketing powers to Park Rangers and Police Officers, so if they catch a lawbreaker, a fine can be dolled out on the spot instead of tying up the court system with a trail.

Compounding the problem, according to KBB, may be the dumping fees truckers face at the Tynes Bay Waste Management Facility.

Truckers are charged $45 per ton each time they dump at Tynes Bay.

So the lawbreakers are sometimes motivated by their wallets ? if they can get rid of their load on the side of the road, they make a bigger profit. The Ministry of Works and Engineering says it could take up to six months for any changes to the law because the revision would need Cabinet and Legislative approval.

Currently fines can go as high as $1,000 if someone suspected of illegal dumping is caught.