metal.

And they hope to amass at least 4,000 tonnes of scrap before shipping it over to the States.

Works and Engineering officials, together with the Bermuda Land Development Corporation, are now scouring the Island to pick up any large chunks of metal.

Government plans scrap metal clean-up Works and Engineering solid waste manager Allan Hunt said: "There's a lot of this stuff about.

"People generally tend to just discard things like old vehicles. There's also a lot of metal in very old buildings.

"I can't say too much at the moment because it's still in the early stages but we have started developing a programme where we can recycle the scrap to the US.

"It's more an environmental exercise than a money making project. We are keeping an eye on the market price but hopefully we will be able to break even. There's going to be the cost of transporting the stuff over to America.

"At the moment we have a several hundred tonnes of steel stored at Marginal Wharf but we need to get that up to somewhere in the vicinity of 4,000 tonnes.

"I can't say how long that will take -- it all depends on the demolition programmes and what's happening on the Island.

"But if anyone has any large amounts of steel, they should call us at the Ministry.'' One of the main contributors to the scrap pile will be petroleum giants Shell, who have just announced plans to scrap their 14 liquid gas storage tanks and replace them with underground models.

"That's something that we approve of,'' Mr. Hunt said. "The tanks will eventually be cut up into manageable pieces and transported off the Island.'' An application to build the new tanks has gone to the Department of Planning and, if approved, the $3.5 million project will be completed by next summer.

The tanks will hold about 510,000 gallons of liquid petroleum gas, used in gas cookers throughout the Island.

The old tanks, situated on land near the Prison Farm, will be scrapped and shipped off the Island once the replacements have been built.

Shell marketing manager Stan Marshall said: "The old tanks were built about 50 years ago and it's time they were replaced.

"The new tanks will be at our St. George's depot and will be partially underground so it will be better for the environment.

"We will still have a few buildings on the old site but the grounds will be landscaped.

"We are working with the Government on this project. Bermuda has a lot of steel lying around, particularly underground such as on the old Bermudiana site. It needs to be dealt with rather than just dumped.''