Student trash: Universities and council announce new drive to combat annual outrage

Every year streets in some areas become clogged with bags of rubbish as tenancies end on July 1 and the city’s 50,000 students move out.

Sheffield and Hallam universities said they were working with Sheffield City Council and their private sector partners Veolia, which handles waste, and Amey, which carries out street repairs.

They also said there had been “extensive communications” to students on campus screens, social media and direct email over the past few weeks and landlords had been briefed on support their tenants.

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Extra waste collections would run from June 23 to July 7 in student areas.

James Merryclough, communications manager at the University of Sheffield, said it was a “challenging time for waste” in student areas.

He added: “We patrol local areas and work closely with local residents to quickly deal with reports of unacceptable piles of rubbish, which is usually caused by people ripping open waste bags looking for usable items.

"Since 2013, students in Sheffield have raised over £1.2m for the British Heart Foundation and avoided over 15t CO2e by donating items at the end of term."

Coun Joe Otten, chair of the environmental services and regulation policy committee at Sheffield City Council, said they would have “roaming enforcement teams” aiming to stop “improper disposal.”

He urged students to take items to charity shops to avoid people ripping out plastic bags left on pavements searching for items of value.

Non-bagged waste could be considered fly tipping and offenders could be fined or prosecuted, he added.

“In instances where bags are split, which sees the content spill out on the street, the Veolia Collection Service is not able to remove this waste, so it must be reported as fly-tipping and litter to Sheffield City Council for it to be removed.”