Information for Students in Private Accommodation

The Problem

Every year, thousands of students move between properties or away from Leeds over the same couple of weeks at the end of June/start of July when housing contracts end. As a result of this 'big move', residential areas around the universities suffer from a massive amount of rubbish and chaos on the streets - this causes bad feeling between the student population and more permanent residents. The environment also suffers as a lot of useful stuff ends up in landfill sites.

Leave Leeds Tidy is here to help!

Leave Leeds Tidy will be providing information and advice to help you move house whilst reducing the impact on the local community and amount of useful items going to landfill.

What you can do to help...

1. Start early! Start packing 3-4 weeks before you leave your house to avoid a panic, get your full bond back, and prevent lots of rubbish on the streets.


2. Use your green bin! Put clean tins and cans, non-confidential paper, magazines and card, and plastic bottles and bags (marked with numbers 1,2 and 4). For more info visit www.leeds.gov.uk


3. Take your bottles to the bottle bank! The Change-Over Map shows you where your nearest bank is and the positions are also listed on the 'Services' page.


4. Shred old confidential paperwork. E.g. bills, bank statements etc. There will be a shredder in the reception area of your students' union from 11th May. This reduces the chance of someone going through your bin stealing your identity and making a mess of the street!


5. Recycle your old mobile phones via www.leedsuniversityunion.envirostudents.com; they’ll give you the value of your phone and the Volunteering and Community office will receive £3 to help community projects.


6. Take stuff to a Household Waste Sorting Sites (HWSS). If you’ve got stuff to get rid of and it can’t be reused by someone else take it to a local HWSS. You can recycle most things so take them pre-sorted in bags to save time when you get there. See where HWSS are situated on the Change-Over Map and find out when they are open on the 'Services' page.


7. Get large items of waste collected by the council. Contact the Council's Environmental Depatment on tel: 0113 222 4406 for a bulky waste collection. Once you’ve logged it with them they should be able to collect within two weeks and you can leave it in your yard/bin yard to keep the streets tidy.


8. Make some cash at Bargain Hunt! If you have stuff to get rid of that someone else might want why not make some cash and sell it at Bargain Hunt! This tabletop sale, at Hyde Park, is held every year by CALM (Community Action Leeds Met). This year, Bargain Hunt is taking place on Saturday 16th May. To register for a table contact Jenine, at CALM, on email: J.Poyser@leedsmet.ac.uk.


9. Give any re-usable stuff you don’t want to Green Streets. This volunteering project, run by students, aims to reduce the amount of re-usable items going to landfill! Green Streets will be delivering some red collection bags to you and the Change-Over Map will tell you which changeover zone you are in and the timetable on the 'Green Streets' page will show when the collection dates for your area. Find out more about Greens Streets, their collection locations and dates, items they will collect, and the free shops at www.leaveleedstidy.com/greenstreets.


10. Put your black bin out and bring it back in! It’s important that you only put bins out the night before collection, and bring them in the day after. If you leave them out you may be fined up to £75, it annoys local residents as it makes the streets look messy, and it increases the chance of someone going through your bins.
    If you’re leaving Leeds before bin day you can register with our team of Changeover Wardens and they’ll put your bin out and bring it back in. Just call 0113 380 1329 and tell us your name, house number, street name and postcode. You also need to paint your house number on your bins so we know which one is which.


11. Help out! There are two ways you can do this:
    • 1. Paint your house number on all of the bins which are used by your household and leave a note on the fridge for the next tenants telling them where the bins are stored and which day is bin day. A template for this can be downloaded from www.leaveleedstidy.com/notetonewtenants.pdf.
    • 2. Volunteer with Green Streets. There are loads of opportunities from helping to run a free shop, driving a van, to making reusable fashion. It’s a great way to make friends and gain experience for your CV. For more info, and to register, email volunteering@luu.leeds.ac.uk.

Good Luck and don’t forget LEAVE LEEDS TIDY!