Leeds students get help to tidy up

Councillor Lucinda Yeadon, Leeds City Council’s executive member for environment and sustainability, has been out and about in the Headingley area to offer advice, encourage recycling and ensure bins are ready for collection.

Traditionally, council bin and street cleaning crews see a rise in rubbish left on the streets and bins are overflowing when students leave the city for the summer.

As tenancies come to an end Leeds City Council has to provide extra waste collection and street cleaning resources to deal with the surge in waste.

In 2015 the local authority removed more than 330 tonnes of waste as students cleared out their digs.

In one area crews had to return six times within 10 days to empty bins due to the sheer amount of waste left out.

Councillor Yeadon said: “Every year we look for different ways to help people deal with their rubbish more effectively before leaving Leeds for the summer. Crews are faced with huge amounts of waste in a short space of time, so we want to encourage people to plan ahead, re-use what they can and when stuff does have to be binned, ensure it’s done properly so rubbish doesn’t accumulate in the streets.

“With minimal effort bins can be put out on time, items recycled and streets kept tidy for neighbouring residents and businesses.”

Council staff and volunteers have been working street-by-street to help people re-use items where possible, recycle the correct items in green bins and ensure that bins are used properly.

People have been able to leave items they no longer need for re-use on special collection days with Leave Leeds Tidy which is run by Leeds City Council, universities, Unipol, Emmaus and St Vincent’s.