Leeds students undertake 'horrendous' clean-up operation at Woodhouse Moor after 4/20 celebrations

Students gathered at the site first thing this morning to begin shifting the mountains of rubbish left behind.

Thousands of people gathered at the park yesterday afternoon to mark April 20, known as the 4/20 celebrations.

It's part of a global protest movement calling for the decriminalisation of cannabis.

Last year drone footage showed huge crowds on the Woodhouse Moor, with many left furious at the amount of litter left behind.

Rebecca Adkin, 23, is one of a group of Events Management students at Leeds Beckett University who led the clear up following this year's event.

"It was horrendous, it was so bad, there was just stuff all over the field - glass, bottles, plastic, a sofa, a few barbeques - it was just totally random." she told the YEP.

"This is the first year that we have led the clear up so it's difficult to compare but it's always left in such a mess."

Rebecca and her co-project manager, Kayleigh Curtis, hopes that as well as making a practical difference, the clean-up will help to improve the relationship between students and the local community.

"It's so important to clear the mess up, not only for the community but also for the environment." Rebecca said.

"The environment is obviously such a huge topic at the moment, it's declining and getting so much worse. It's the little things that people just don't consider when they are creating mess."

Around 20 student volunteers gathered for the clean-up before being treated to refreshments provided by the Oblong community centre in Woodhouse.

The group have also set up a GoFundMe page for the event, raising money for Oblong as a thank you for their kind gesture.

"We saw this phrase that we really like - litter attracts litter - so the longer it is left there the more likely it is that more people will leave rubbish." commented, co-project manager, Kayleigh.

"It's really important that we get the word out there and in future try to step the mess before it is created so that people start taking responsibility for their own litter."

Campaigners at Litter Free Leeds are pushing for the council to place more bins at the site with many of the bins present overflowing with rubbish.

In a message to the general public, the pair added:

"Take your litter home and just recycle it."