Bermuda residents are hopping mad about Government's new garbage collection scheme -- especially the discontinuation of twice-weekly trash collections.

That was the overwhelming consensus of opinion in a Royal Gazette street poll taken on Friday in Hamilton.

Calling the revised schedule "just another example of Government trial and error'', student Ms Angela Young said: "I'm totally against it. It needs to be twice a week. What about when our pickup day is a holiday, and we have to wait another week?'' Since the new system went into effect last November, householders have been required to place both normal garbage and recyclable products out on the same collection day each week.

Government waste teams pick up the regular refuse, and Talbot Enterprises -- a Somerset-based general contracting firm -- is charged with collecting the blue-bagged recyclables.

Insurance broker Mr. J. Oliver Heyliger felt Bermuda was "moving back a step'' by having a once-a-week pick-up.

"It's really an inconvenience, and I wonder if (Government) is really saving any money at all,'' he said.

Respondents also complained that on numerous occasions their garbage was not taken away on the designated collection day, leaving them with rotting refuse for another week.

"The whole issue is garbage!'' said one respondent, who thought it was unrealistic to expect people to stockpile their garbage for a once per week pickup that sometimes never happens.

"I wouldn't mind the weekly trash collection if they would actually pick it up,'' said another. "I don't have a car to take it to the dump when they don't collect it. And if I leave it outside my house the dogs get at it, so I'm stuck with it in my kitchen smelling up the whole place.'' Executive secretary Mrs. Pippa Barritt said her apartment complex has had the same problem.

"They always miss us, and are always late,'' she said. "One time it took them three weeks to pick up our trash.'' Corporate secretary Mrs. Kathy Palmer said her family has just about given up on garbage collectors.

"We take our trash down to the dump ourselves,'' she said.

Mrs. Palmer also complained no one bothers to pick up her household's recyclables either.

Engineer Mr. Sandy Benevides said the only good side to the new scheme was the recycling effort. He too has been forced to take his own household garbage to the dump, after it was not picked up.

"Twice a week collections was a better a idea,'' said Mr. Benevides. "The whole idea of recycling is excellent,'' said accountant Mr. Jon Borrill. "But I wonder what's going to happen in the summer, with garbage sitting around the house for a week.'' Government's only supporter during the poll was office clerk Mrs. Thelma Froud, who said she did not mind the new schedule at all.

Ms Angela Young Mr. Jon Borrill Mrs. Pippa Barritt Mr. Oliver Heyliger.