Future Rotarians uncovered more than just litter during a clean-up of the Railway Trail last weekend.

Interact Club members and their mentors tackled the trail from Palmetto Park in Devonshire to Store Hill in Smith’s for a “trashathon”.

With much of the debris hidden in the undergrowth, 16 students and nine adults uncovered an abandoned motorbike, lawnmower and bicycle.

Anne Hyde, executive director of Keep Bermuda Beautiful, said the charity was pleased to assist with the Rotary Club’s clean-up. Ms Hyde said she valued the good relationship she has with the Rotary clubs of Bermuda, adding: “We’re so very pleased to see Rotarians and their youth club come out to do clean-ups and participate in KBB events.

“Hamilton Rotary Club participated in the EY coastal clean-up in September and we’re delighted to have them back out again including the Interact students.”

Meeting with the teenagers last month, Ms Hyde gave instruction and a brief presentation on Bermuda’s litter problem in a talk organised by Cathy Bassett, who resurrected Rotary’s Interact Club last year.

Ms Bassett is well known in the community as an educator and the former principal of Elliot Primary and Ms Hyde credited Ms Bassett for pushing for the environmental focus.

Ms Bassett told The Royal Gazette: “One of our goals is to have children become stewards of the environment.

“It’s so important to get involved and do our part. I think what happens when other youth see the type of eagerness that the children are showing, it makes them interested as well.”

The crew filled more than 20 bags of trash and recyclables in the afternoon.

“It’s such a beautiful place, but unfortunately we’re not disposing our waste in a proper manner,” Ms Bassett said. “The trashathon was an amazing success and it was helpful for the students to see what gets tossed around.”

She noted that Dr Jamie Bacon of the Bermuda Zoological Society would speak to the Interact Club later this month. The series of island-wide talks comes after evidence that the oil from discarded machinery ends up in ponds, impacting wildlife and causing deformities in toads and other amphibians.