the spring, the Works and Engineering Ministry's chief engineer said yesterday.

The programme, which is designed to reduce the amount of food waste that is currently going to the Tynes Bay incinerator, will complement the larger business-oriented programme that began in April.

Speaking after a speech on Bermuda's waste management system to Hamilton Rotarians at the Princess Hotel yesterday, Mr. Russell Wade, who is responsible for all capital projects on the Island, would not divulge any details on the anticipated household programme, saying that it was still being "formulated'' by the Ministry.

But he did tell The Royal Gazette that he hoped the two composting programmes would eventually reduce the amount of food waste that is presently being produced in Bermuda by about half.

Food waste now represents some 22 percent of the Island's total garbage.

In April, the Works and Engineering Ministry launched the Marsh Folly Waste Treatment Facility, a 25-acre "compost production'' centre, in an effort to reduce the amount of Bermudian food waste.

According to officials, the centre currently receives some 30 tonnes of horticultural waste a day and six tonnes of organic waste -- most of the latter coming from the cruise ships that visit Bermuda from April to October.

In his speech yesterday, Mr. Wade said the Ministry would be talking to local restaurants about shipping their food waste to Marsh Folly year-round.

The only setback that the facility has experienced to date, he added, was Hurricane Felix, which provided the centre with three months of compost material in two weeks and put it behind in processing.

Other waste management developments that Mr. Wade revealed yesterday: Bermuda's waste disposal system, which includes 14 types of collection services and eight waste management facilities, processed nearly 80,000 tonnes of waste last year from a resident population of 60,000 and nearly 500,000 tourists; Despite the "negative publicity'' that followed the reduction of kerbside garbage collection to once a week in 1993, "there has not been a noticeable increase in litter as a result''; and Works and Engineering now has the capability to collect and dispose of a wide range of waste, including fluorescent light fixtures, waste paints, waste oils, automobile batteries, household batteries, PVC pipe fittings and furniture and structural aluminium and copper.

Mr. Wade said future waste management goals included the continued education of primary school students and a wish to increase the number of residents who recycle from 25 percent now to more than 50 percent.

Mr. Russell Wade