Fly-tipping students across Britain slammed by neighbours

Fly-tipping students across Britain slammed by neighbours

Fly-tipping students across Britain have been slammed by their neighbours for leaving behind rubbish as they pack up for summer.

Homeowners in Newcastle, Sheffield and Manchester have taken pictures of rubbish stuffed inside bursting bin liners while bulkier items such as sofas, beds and cupboards are also left strewn across student-populated streets.

Residents claim councils are failing to act quickly enough meaning the festering waste is targeted by foxes and rats. 

Some neighbours put the problem down to fewer bin collections by local councils while others claim the growing number of students crammed into each home puts too much of a strain on the system. 

Residents in Newcastle have slammed students who leave rubbish when they go for summer

Locals have described the fly-tipping by students in Newcastle as a 'damn disgrace' 

Black bins are left piled up in Newcastle after students left for the summer 

Bulkier items have been left by bins in Heaton, Newcastle, by departing students

Doreen Huddart, a Lib Dem councillor for North Heaton in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, has described the fly-tipping by students as a 'damn disgrace'.

The 73-year-old said: 'Fly-tipping is a real problem. We actually get people rummaging through the bins looking for anything and everything.

'You see them driving around in their vans and standing on them to look over garden walls for anything of value.

'Students put things in the black bins too and they'll go through them looking for TVs or other expensive goods left behind.

'It's a damn disgrace. People then see students have left rubbish and you get [industrial fly-tippers] dumping even more then.

'It's a nightmare for those who live here permanently.'

A heap of rubbish, including trainers and discarded clothes, left on a street in Sheffield

Public sector worker Christine Williams, who lives in the Crookesmoor area of Sheffield claims her street is 80 per cent made up students, many of whom have left piles of rubbish on her doorstep.

The 62-year-old said: 'The students in general seem to have a problem with dealing with their rubbish.

'The build-up of rubbish is a regular occurrence in this area. I've asked universities many times to provide services for students and now, at the time when they have to move out, students are provided with red bags that they are supposed to fill up and leave on the pavements.

'Unfortunately that has now led them to believe they can put anything on the pavements, even if it's not in a red bag.

'This init iative is paid for by council tax payers and apparently costs £21,500 annually. I'd rather pay for students to have free prescriptions instead.

'We also have a lot of foxes which go through these bags and have a field day.

'What we've been forced to do now is haul the students' bins out ourselves because if we don't there would be rubbish everywhere.

'Of course, if the rubbish is food waste then it soon starts to smell. Also the bin bags often get torn open by people looking for items of value as students tend to throw out a lot of perfectly good stuff such as pots and pans, electrical items, clothing and shoes, so stuff gets strewn around.

'If we are teaching students medicine or engineering then why can't they clean up after themselves?'

Residents in the student-populated area of Manchester, Fallowfield, have slammed the students' behaviour but also put the blame on the amount of students in the houses

Heaps of black bin bags are left by a bin in Fallowfield, in Manchester, as students leave for summer

In the south Manchester suburb of Fallowfield, residents claim homes and gardens have been untouched since July 1, when most student tenancies end.

During the summer break, landlords are supposed to clean out their properties ahead of the new tenants' arrivals.

Community volunteer Sue Hare, 53, from Fallowfield, said: 'Fallowfield is the most heavily populated student area in Manchester by far and about 90 per cent of the residents on my street are students.

'Over the past decade thousands of houses have been converted into houses of multiple occupancy (HMOs) for students, which means these buildings have gone from having a family of five living in them, to having six or seven tenants.

'The number of people living in each building has increased, but they still have the same size bins so unless they recycle, the bins get fuller more quickly.

Mountains of rubbish have been left by university students in Fallowfield in Manchester

'I've lived in the area for 25 years and we knew it was a student area back then, but the number of student houses has massively increased.

'Throughout the year students forget to put their bins out and after collections went fortnightly, if they missed one collection, it could be a month before they got emptied.

'When it gets to the end of June or beginning of July, the problem gets worse. As a residents' group, we are all really concerned about it.

'This happens every year without fail. Always around the time when the academic year is finishing. There's a horrendous mess then.

'It's the landlords too - they should be hiring a skip or taking their waste to the tip but they just dump their old so fas in the front gardens.

'Then there's the rats. A lot of properties will have food waste in the black bin bags left outside and that only takes a couple of days for foxes to rip them open, then the rats are in heaven.

'It's difficult for us to confront the landlords too as we've had quite a few instances where they have become really rude if you mention it.

'We are trying to involve them in solving the problem but they can get quite aggressive.'

Residents said the 'horrendous mess' always happened at the same time every year

A Newcastle City Council spokesman said: 'Fly tipping and student waste are a challenge in certain areas of the city and something that we are proactively trying to address.

'We continue to liaise and work closely with landlords to encourage them to help tenants dispose of their waste correctly, in some cases they are even withholding deposits if they find rubbish has been left at their properties.' 

A Newcastle University spokesman said: 'In response to concerns, Newcastle University staff joined students and local police officers for a two-week street clean-up as part of the Leave Newcastle Happy campaign.

'We will continue to work with NUSU and the City Council, through campaigns such as Leave Newcastle Happy, to engage with the st udent body to encourage responsible waste disposal at the end of term.' 

A Northumbria University spokesman said: 'At Northumbria University we do not tolerate any form of anti-social behaviour and we have clear disciplinary codes and sanctions in place.

'Unfortunately, despite all best efforts, we recognise that anti-social behaviour can still occur.

Residents complained how rubbish was 'thoughtlessly dumped' by students in Manchester

A Sheffield Council spokesman said: 'We work in partnership with the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University and their student unions, as well as various student landlords and letting agents, to deal with student waste as effectively as possible.

'For more than 10 years, we have provided a red sack waste collection scheme in Sheffield, specifically for students. This year, our red sack service was out collecting waste every day for three weeks through the busiest student clear-out period.' 

A spokesman representing the University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University said: 'The University of Sheffield and Sheffield Hallam University all work closely to minimise the impact of students moving house at the end of the summer term.

'This includes providing British Heart Foundation donation banks across student areas. Last year this resulted in £120,000 worth of donations and 68 tonnes of waste diverted from landfill.

'The donation and red sack schemes significantly help to organise student waste efficiently.' 

Fed-up residents in Manchester have posted pictures of fly-tipping by students in the city

Manchester City Council's executive member for neighbourhoods, Councillor Nigel Murphy, said: 'At this time of year, students move out of shared houses and in some cases, additional waste is thoughtlessly dumped instead of being properly disposed of at a local waste disposal facility.

'We condemn any landlords or individuals who are irresponsible enough to break the law by fly-tipping in our neighbourhoods.' 

A spokesman representing both the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University said: 'The vast majority of students leave their residences in a clean and tidy state and many take part in initiatives we organise.

'To ensure all students are aware of their responsibilities, we work with the city council and accredited landlords to communicate with students and conduct site audits.' 

 

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