not many years ago that Bermudians were constantly concerned about keeping their Island beautiful and were willing to speak out against trash and litter.

We think that today there is almost an attitude of: "Oh well, we can't do much about it.'' That is not true.

If we are correct and that attitude continues, then beautiful Bermuda will become an eyesore. Keep Bermuda Beautiful's top members have warned that if bad attitudes continue Bermuda could drown under a deluge of trash.

Much of the lead against litter needs to come from Government. Fearful of losing a single vote, Government is prone to tolerate behaviour which is not in the best interests of Bermuda.

We think that leadership should take the form of the much debated bottle deposit and return law. Even if that law did not deter users of bottled products from littering, it would encourage concerned groups from children to Keep Bermuda Beautiful to earn a few dollars by collecting the offending bottles. we know there is a strong lobby against such a law but it works elsewhere and it is past time to ignore the lobby.

The once-a-week garbage collection which is so often interrupted by public holidays and work stoppages does not help. A week's storage of garbage is too much for many people to handle and inevitably results in further litter.

One good sign seems to be a move toward curtailing take out cold alcohol from grocery and liquor stores. These individual bottles of beer and other liquor coupled with miniatures poured into soda cans inevitably result in illegal consumption in public or in vehicles and almost always wind up on the roadsides. That is not necessary and it is not sensible. We have to note that some business places are now supplying paper cups and ice to go with the take-out liquor. That is more litter and surely it amounts to operating a bar.

It seems to us that people who sell take-out alcohol and take-out food have to be held responsible for the trash they create. We think that is certainly true of cleaning the areas around their own establishments.

Keep Bermuda Beautiful issued other dire warnings about litter last week and said that: "Bermuda is becoming a major trash zone.'' Yet it was KBB which rejected the Clean Community Programme in favour of taking financial support from the very importers whose products result in litter. Their action seemed wrong then and is still wrong today. It does seem to us that since KBB allied itself with the importers it has lost its energy.

If we are correct, then it is again bad for Bermuda because we have concluded that only organisations like KBB will ever succeed in prodding Government to action.