Student’s bin collection woes
Extra collections have been put on the clear away all the rubbish put out by students heading home for the summer, but not everyone is happy about it. Hundreds of students are currently heading home following the end of the academic year. As a result many are clearing out their accommodation and throwing away unwanted items. To help with this the Student Community Partnership laid on the additional rubbish collections in Bath, in liaison with Bath & North East Somerset Council. But for Paulina Zimnoch, a second year university student at the University of Bath, things didn’t quite turn out the way she was expecting. She said: “I thought that we could leave our bin bags next to our bins which would be collected until the end of the month. But this hasn’t happened at all on the street which I live on. I was told that it would be collected.” The University of Bath and Bath Spa University had organised extra rubbish collections to take place from Friday, June 8. These were due to last until the end of the month. It was hoped the new initiative would significantly reduce the amount of waste waiting to be collected at this especially busy time of year when hundreds of students are moving out of the city. The students were advised to place their wheelie bins and/or reusable rubbish sacks in a visible place at the front of their property with any additional rubbish sacks placed neatly beside them for collection. Ordinarily, waste will not be collected unless it is in the wheelie bin. Despite doing this, however, Paulina claims that her bin bags were left on the street. She said: “The street I live on is mostly students who have left their rubbish as they thought it would be collected. “There was a note from one of the houses left on the rubbish asking for the extra bags to be taken on collection which was ignored. “I’m rather disappointed that the bins were not collected as I don’t have a car or a way to get rid of the rubbish which leaves me in a very bad situation. If I leave the rubbish my landlord won’t give me the deposit back.” The Student Community Partnership is a joint venture between the University of Bath and Bath Spa University and their respective Students’ Unions, and Bath & North East Somerset Council. They came together to help make rubbish less of an issue as students move out of their properties. Paulina said: “I also think some of the students have moved out and left their rubbish with no way for it to be collected for the next two weeks “I think students don’t litter too much but Friday and Saturday nights give all the other students a really bad reputation.” Despite Paulina’s missed collection, the initiative has led to almost 18 tonnes of waste collected from the streets over the past three weeks. A spokesman for Bath & North East Somerset Council said: “To reduce the amount of waste waiting to be collected at this especially busy time of year, our universities agreed to provide additional funding so that the council could provide twice weekly rubbish and recycling collections during June. “As a result of this, the council has been able to provide additional clear-up support for students at collection time. We have cleared almost 18 tonnes of waste from the streets over the past three weeks. “We apologise the excess waste wasn’t taken from Landseer Road during the usual collection - it should have been. “Landseer Road had extra collections at the weekend. We went back to check on Monday and all the waste had already been cleared. “If you see a problem during the week then please let us know by calling Council Connect (01225 394041) or emailing councilconnect@bathnes.gov.uk. Your support is very much appreciated.” The Student Community Partnership also noted just how much waste had been collected as a result of the scheme. Kalyn Mallard, community liaison co-ordinator for the Student Community Partnership said: “We have received overwhelmingly positive feedback regarding the additional waste collections for students. “Neither university have had any issues reported to them, and nearly 18 tonnes of waste has been collected thanks to the extra services we have worked with the council to provide.”