Whitney Institute students and teachers picked up more than 800lbs of trash on Saturday as part of a KBB cleanup.

The cleanup, which offered students a chance to get community service hours, brought together 100 students, several parents and 17 members of school staff including Reeshemah Swan, the school’s principal.

Over two hours, the group collected roadside trash within a one-mile area around the school.

Beer bottles, plastic bottles and soda cans made up the bulk of the waste, along with hundreds of cigarette butts.

Anne Hyde, executive director at KBB, said that before the cleanup began, the environmental charity gave the students a presentation on litter.

Ms Hyde said: “This reinforces their understanding of the harm that litter causes to our environment, how trash travels, getting blown by the wind from the street to the ocean, where it’s killing birds and turtles.”

Ms Swan said the school hopes to make the cleanup an annual event, adding: “It is important that we help our young people to learn about sustainable development and ways that they can help to make our island home a better place in which to live.

“We also decided to have the cleanup day on a Saturday because we encourage our students to give their personal time to do something positive for someone else.

“When they can commit to sacrificing a small part of their weekend to do an act of kindness, it speaks volumes and it goes a long way.”