garbage containing human and animal faeces was said to have come to an end last night.

Government held discussions with refuse collectors yesterday and, as a result, service is expected to get back to normal tomorrow.

Officials from the Works and Engineering Ministry said they were expecting garbage crews to work late into the evening last night to help clear the backlog of trash.

But additional pick-ups could be organised over the weekend until the discarded trash left strewn across the Island is finally collected.

The Royal Gazette reported on Tuesday how trash collectors were skipping pick-ups in random industrial action to protest being forced to handle garbage containing human and animal waste.

Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott said during the last ten days it was noted that some garbage crews were not collecting as much as usual, which meant bags of rubbish were being left in the street.

He said he believed the main reason behind the action was that the men were tired of facing disgusting animal and human waste on their rounds and had complained about the problem for some time.

Trash collectors to resume regular schedule But the Minister also conceived part of the problem to be down to the men's unhappiness at not being paid overtime for public holidays -- even when they did not have to work them.

Yesterday Mr. Scott was off the Island, as was president of the Bermuda Industrial Union Derrick Burgess, but further talks including them both are scheduled to take place on Monday.

But a statement put out by Government last night said: "One outcome of discussions held today with Works and Engineering refuse collection crews is the anticipation that the delays experienced in collection service around the Island will now come to a swift end.'' Opposition leader Pamela Gordon last night said she wanted to know why the problem was allowed to escalate to such a serious level.

She said she was not aware of the problem of faeces being left in garbage in the past and suggested Government should have launched a public campaign in a bid to educate people on what was acceptable to put out for the trash collectors.

Just hours after she herself had to take her trash to the garbage tip because it had not been collected, she said: "I would like to reserve my comment until the Minister returns and the matter is resolved, which hopefully will be timely.

"But I want to know if we are going to find ourselves back at this same problem in the heat of the summer? The trash collectors have a difficult job enough, without having to face human and animal waste.

"The problem may be down to people with babies putting diapers in the trash without flushing the contents down the toilet first.

ENVIRONMENT ENV