More than one ton of discarded rubbish was collected by volunteers during a tidy-up of undergrowth on Barker?s Hill in Pembroke.

A team of 15 took part in the Keep Bermuda Beautiful clean-up that came after a vector control officer reported mosquito traps in the vicinity were being repeatedly ?triggered? indicating there was likely to be large amounts of rubbish hidden away and harbouring pools of water where mosquitoes were able to breed.

That proved to be the case, as KBB volunteers discovered when they investigated deep in the undergrowth that overlooks the Barker?s Hill/North Shore Road roundabout at the weekend.

During a three-hour clean up the team filled 40 black bags weighing 1.02 tons, as well as 21 blue bags of recyclable items.

?No one would have had any idea of how much rubbish was there unless they had gone right up into the bushes.

?It was definitely an accumulation over many years,? said Susan Harvey, KBB executive director. ?We have now put a bin up there and hope it will not happen again.?

In a separate KBB-assisted clean-up, hundreds of students from Clearwater Middle School collected debris and rubbish from around the St. David?s area, including the beaches at Cooper?s Island.

That taskforce was headed up by Heather DeSilva and Dolphin Quest?s Amanda Kaplan and supported by Clearwater Middle School deputy head teacher Dr. Derek Tully, who is a strong advocate for environmental awareness amongst students. Mrs. Harvey would like anyone interested in becoming a KBB volunteer to assist with future clean-ups to contact the group, which is listed in the telephone directory.

The KBB also has public litter bins that can be put out in areas where rubbish is known to accumulate. A number of the bins have been placed at locations including Mangrove Bay dock, Spanish Point and the east end of Shelly Bay.

Anyone who would like to request one of the bins for a public area should contact the KBB.