* Photo by Susan Harvey. Christ-mess: A mountain of champagne bottles and other trash was pictured at Elbow Beach last Boxing Day.
* Photo by Susan Harvey. Christ-mess: A mountain of champagne bottles and other trash was pictured at Elbow Beach last Boxing Day.
People want recycling to be made compulsory so they can help to reduce Bermuda's waste mountain.

The vast majority of the population would support the Government "going green" with compulsory household recycling.

A survey carried out for the Bermuda Sun by Total Research Associates revealed a total of 91 per cent would support such an initiative. More than half of respondents (54 per cent) would completely support the proposal, while four in ten (37 per cent) would mostly support it.

It comes after the Government told the public to improve their recycling ways saying "recycling needs to become an inherent behaviour for all Bermuda residents." It is said that "every resident has a stake in Bermuda's future."

Only eight per cent voiced their opposition towards compulsory household recycling. Six per cent of respondents said they mostly opposed and 2 per cent said they completely opposed.

Anne Hyde, acting executive director of Keep Bermuda Beautiful, said: "I'm really surprised at this survey result, but we're very pleased that people are becoming better citizens and servants of the planet.

"You currently speak to people who don't have the confidence to recycle in Bermuda as they believe it's a wasted effort. They think the blue bags are sneaked to Tynes Bay and burned at midnight!

"But this proves that attitudes are changing, mandatory recycling could happen and then Bermuda will come in line with other countries."

For the first time an additional eight recycling bins were put on Elbow Beach last week in the hope that Christmas Day revellers would be "willing to sort their recyclables".

On December 27 volunteers removed 1,000 lbs of trash - 15 bags of regular trash and 41 bags of bottles, cans and recyclables.

Action was taken after partygoers left mountains of trash strewn across Elbow Beach after Christmas last year. The 'Happy Holidays - Healthy Beaches' will now be an annual recycling programme.

Ms Hyde said: "If there's the option there, people follow through. If recycling is made easy, the majority of residents in Bermuda seem happy to comply.

"We were very pleased with the success, it made life so much easier for the volunteers."

Beverage containers were also recycled for the first time at November's Rugby Classic - ending up with 1.92 tons of recyclable material.

In Bermuda you can currently recycle tin, aluminium and glass (T.A.G.). The tin and aluminium is baled at the Government Quarry Depot and shipped overseas for recycling, while the glass is crushed and used on island.

Recycling helps to conserve natural resources, conserves energy and improves the efficiency of our waste-to-energy incinerator.

Our survey consisted of telephone interviews with a representative sample of 402 Bermuda residents conducted between December 5 and 13. One per cent of respondents said don't know/ no answer to the recycling question.