day, the head of Keep Bermuda Beautiful urges residents to `take ownership of Bermuda' Ben Greening reports More than 25,000 pounds of litter was picked up around Bermuda during last year's marine clean-up day in which some 250 people took part. According to Keep Bermuda Beautiful's executive director Lennox Boodram, the worrying results show our residents and tourists are throwing away more trash than ever.

Compared with other countries such as the Bahamas -- in which 25,728 pounds of trash were collected by 430 people -- the situation in Bermuda seems to be getting worse rather than improving.

And now Mr. Boodram is appealing to the public to "take ownership'' of the Island.

"People don't throw trash around in their own houses, but they do it in parks and roads because they don't feel responsible for them,'' Mr. Boodram said.

He noted that the KBB was trying to combat such an attitude with various anti-litter projects, one of which is called Adopt-a-Park.

Under the scheme, organisations will agree to take responsibility for one of the Island's parks, engaging in the occasional group clean-up there.

"In return for this,'' Mr. Boodram said, "the organisation's name, whether they be a school, a church or a company, is put on the park sign.'' KBB also organises a day during May when trash is picked up, not on the shore, but further inland.

Mr. Boodram said this year's marine clean-up slated for later this month is important in that it serves two main purposes -- helps keep Bermuda beautiful and helps experts "formulate plans of action'' on how to deal with the problem in the future.

Results from the Island-wide Coastal and Marine Clean-up Day will help environmental campaigners get a better idea of how to solve the ever-present problem of littering.

Members of all sections of the community have been invited to the event, scheduled to take place on September 18, and they will join people in more than 70 countries worldwide who will also be engaging in their own clean-ups.

At the end of the day the local figures will be correlated with those from the other countries and placed into tables so that experts can get a greater understanding of the trash problem on a global scale.

Handling the local Coastal and Marine Clean-up is Keep Bermuda Beautiful, a registered charity set up in 1962 by the Bermuda Garden Club to help keep the Island and its surrounding waters free of unsightly garbage.

The Centre for Marine Conservation, based in Washington DC, is the group responsible for organising the event on an international scale.

Every year, it publishes tables of results, comparing figures such as the numbers of people taking part and the total volumes of trash picked up in each country.

Participants in the clean-up are given a survey form so they can record how much of the various kinds of refuse they pick up.

This helps environmental activists target their campaigns at certain groups more effectively.

The total volume of trash picked up on that day by 250 people was 26,200 pounds.

Mr. Boodram explained that, on the day, KBB will provide site leaders to coordinate and oversee the clean-up at different locations all over the Island.

Also provided will be T-shirts -- provided by TeleBermuda -- soft drinks and pick-ups by the Ministry of Works and Engineering. Mr. Boodram stressed that, although 13 coastal locations have been chosen as recommended sites for the clean-up, people can do their bit at any part of the Island's shoreline or even in the water.

He also said: "If you want to take part and you're not in a group, it doesn't matter because we're able to match you up with other participants''.

However, Mr. Boodram asked people to contact the KBB if they wished to take part.

He said: "We want people to let us know if they are going to help so that the results collected at the end of the day are accurate and also so that we can coordinate the event properly, making sure that all of the trash gets picked up.'' Mr. Boodram explained that Bermuda would be kept beautiful only through a reduction of the amount of waste produced and a more effective system of waste management.

Asked where he planned to take KBB in the future, the Trinidadian explained that he wanted to give the organisation back the energy it had when it began.

He said: "We want to create a new momentum of action and make every effort to maintain it over the next few years.'' That "momentum of action'' appeared to be off to good start with more than 400 assisted clean-ups carried out by different groups last year and numerous campaigns masterminded by both the Environment Ministry and KBB to give Bermudians that "sense of ownership'' and responsibility for the Island.

Mr. Boodram noted that he wanted to "commend residents for their help over the years, both financially and physically''.

"We've always had support both from the corporate sector and individuals, but I do have to say that we're only as strong as our volunteers,'' he said.

Coastal and Marine Clean-up Day takes place between 9 a.m. and noon on Saturday, September 18. For more information on how to sign up for it, Mr.

Boodram can be reached by phone on 295-5142.

Alternatively, the public can sign up on the KBB's website which be found at www.kbb.bm.