annual Keep Bermuda Beautiful Clean-up which ended last weekend.

This was 16 tons more than the amount collected last year.

However, KBB president Mrs. Kendaree Burgess Fairn said she could not say whether this meant that more people were littering.

"This year's success was due to the new method of clean-up in which we concentrated on three sections of the Island -- east, west and central,'' she said. "It took us three weekends to do it.

"Because we separated the Island into sections we were able to pick-up a larger amount of garbage. We also had over 100 divers in the water this year.'' Several years ago the clean-up produced over 100 tons of garbage, Mrs.

Burgess-Fairn said.

"I think the tonnage equals the number of people participating, and the eagerness of the crowd. Some people can get discouraged when you can pull 20 bags from a bus shelter,'' she added.

Mrs. Burgess Fairn said all kinds of debris was found, including unstripped motor bikes, frying pans, condoms, crack pipes and a wallet with all its contents, except money, intact in a zip-locked bag.

When asked which area, was the worst Mrs. Burgess Fairn said: "There are several very bad areas in each of the three districts, a couple cleaning up Parsons Lane collected 25 bags themselves.

"We had work groups participating including Brownies, Scouts, schools etc.

which was good.'' She added that because of this year's success she believes KBB will keep this method of clean-up, but it also depends on the volunteers. "With out them we would not be able to organise this.

"You would be surprised how much you can pick up. The volunteers were able to get a good bird's-eye view of how much trash is along the road side and in our waters.

"Trash is stuck in crevices in walls and some people feel that if you hide it it doesn't exist. When you look there is an awful lot of garbage out there, but some people are still suffering from the belief that Bermuda is a clean place.''