Most residents are improperly disposing of trash materials and many are even putting potentially hazardous materials among their household rubbish, a survey of local waste management habits has found.

Bermuda College's Earth and Environmental Science students and the Waste Management Section of the Ministry of Works and Engineering conducted the second Island Wide Household Waste Audit, held at Devon Springs Recycling Centre, this week.

Led by Bermuda College lecturer Amy Harvey, the students rolled up their sleeves with Waste Education and Enforcement Officer Vanese Gordon and Materials Recovery Officer Stephen Gilbert to see exactly what Bermuda household waste contains.

Braving ripe odours and soggy diapers, the team catalogued the contents of over 400 randomly selected households' garbage, proportionately representing each of Bermuda's parishes.

A total of 20 different categories were logged, including improperly discarded recyclables (tin, aluminium and glass), compostable items which could have been converted into agricultural soil and potentially hazardous materials which could endanger the safety of collection staff as well as Bermuda's air and water.

These items were discovered despite last weekend's free Special Waste drop-off at the Tynes Bay facility.

Mrs. Gordon said: "It appears that fewer recyclables were mistakenly put in the trash compared to the previous audit of 2006, but we're still looking forward to seeing improvements in composting and correct disposal of special waste like bug spray and medicines.

"It is so easy, and it's free, so we encourage all residents to protect our Island home's environment and her sanitation workers, who are among the best in the world."

In addition to cataloguing local waste habits, the audit serves as a means for forward planning, allowing the Waste Management Section to predict what services and features will be most helpful in the future.

"The Department's upcoming publicity campaign, What Goes Where, can be made maximally effective by knowing what products are currently not going where they belong," said Mrs. Gordon.

Aside from serving as a great resumé-builder for the participating students, the event was an eye-opener.

"Since the students were already enrolled in an environmental class, they're probably sorting their own household waste correctly, and some of them were startled by what they saw in the garbage," said. Mrs. Gordon. "We found all sorts of oddities, like books and fashionable clothes which could have been donated to charity."

For more information, contact Waste Education and Enforcement Officer Vanese Gordon at 747-3114.