Leeds students have been giving up their time to tidy 150 tonnes of rubbish left in our streets

Photos revealing the shocking state of streets in Hyde Park from over the weekend, with many quick to point the finger at students dumping unwanted clothes, books and kitchen items.

But one group of hard-working volunteers at the University have been tirelessly giving up their time tidying up, and setting up a scheme to donate items to charity and running a community free shop, where the public can come and take whatever they wish.

The Leave Leeds Tidy scheme is a project run each year by students as many tidy out their rentals before heading home for the summer.

In the past decade, volunteers from the universities have helped clear 100 tonnes of rubbish, which has been either recycled or donated to local charities such as Junktion waste food café in Armley, or Leeds Heart Beats, which supports the British Heart Foundation.

Project co-ordinator Ryan Frankland said: "It's been running for the past 11 years and in that time we've diverted more than 150 tonnes of stuff that would have otherwise gone to landfill."

The volunteers collect rubbish left in the streets, donating what they can.

Other items are given away at community free shops hosted around Leeds, which are open to the public.

PhD student Claire-Hermine Ozber added: "We are now over 14 tonnes of stuff collected with more still coming in.

"Everything left at the end of the free shop will be going to the British Heart Foundation so everything donated gets to make a positive difference one way or another.

"The time I’ve spent on the collections has all been voluntary and in fact, as a PhD student, I don’t get the summer off, I get annual leave like any 'proper job' and I’ve been using my leave to do this."

Photos were shared on social media of mountains of junk left on back streets and in the Co-op car park, including discarded clothes, pans, furniture and mattresses.

Residents angrily hit out at the waste amassed in the streets as a haven for rats.

Shelton Dube, who took the photos, said: "Without blaming anyone I feeling like their needs to be a better system to combat this kind of stuff to ever happen, especially in 2019 when we are more environmentally conscious.

"As I understand this happens every year when people move on especially in the student areas. I’d like to see the landlords and the council working together to combat this, to have a plan in place to avoid this happening and also education or more information needs to be given to people on how to dispose things properly and where to dispose it.

"I feel like more skips could be arranged between all parties involved in the future and also charities because I did see people going through the mess left behind and taking things."

Ryan added: "The community free shops are open to everyone - the one at Beeston Nazarine Church saw the stock gone in 40 minutes. We see plenty of people on benefits or who are below the breadline using them, but also a few people just looking for a bargain."

Free shops are being hosted this year at All Hallows Church in Hyde Park on Monday and Tuesday, and at the Leeds West Indian Centre in Chapeltown between 11am and 2pm on Fridays. You can see more details here.