Neighbours in south Manchester have told of their fury after piles of rubbish were left strewn across the floor and spilling out of bins as students moved out.
Withington residents said the streets are turned into a dumping ground at the end of each academic year when university students leave for the summer. Photos show bins overflowing and charity shops have been left unable to take donations due to the huge demand.
But many of them have had enough, and are calling on students to “take responsibility” and clean up after themselves, instead of leaving rubbish in heaps in alleys and on roads.
Julie Colville, who has lived in Withington for 28 years, said: “It’s heartbreaking. We have to live with this all summer.
"My garden is right next to the alley, and when the bins are overflowing I get flies and I can’t enjoy my garden.” Julie claims the problems come from students - often in good faith - binning household items thinking they’re putting it where it should go.
But the bins get full, and there isn’t enough space for the waste that’s put there - attracting flies and rats. “They’ve got away with it for far too long,” she said.
“They think they’re doing okay because they’re throwing it in a bin, not realising that the bin then can’t be used for what it’s supposed to be used for.”
Another Withington resident told the M.E.N that the area was “always a mess,” and accused Manchester City Council of not doing enough to clear it up.
And while most agree that an ideal solution is for students to take unwanted goods to charity shops, Withington’s stores tend to get so overloaded at this time of year that they are forced to stop taking on donations.
The manager at one charity shop in Withington High Street told the M.E.N she’d had to stop taking donations this morning because they had so much to sort through.
“We’re having to turn people away and it’s not because we don’t want the stuff - we do want it,” she said. “But we don’t have room, we can’t sort through it all.” She said the situation was the same in all other charity shops on the street.
If there’s a message for students from overrun charity shops, it’s this: “I’d say, please don’t leave it to the last minute,” she said.
“It’s the same every year - the last two weeks of June we always get so many donations. It would be great if students could donate a bit earlier.”
Julie said she hoped students could think about donating their items, and if unable to, get together and take them to a skip.
“I think students should make some sort of council tax contribution towards the rubbish collection,” she said. “But I also think the council should come and pick it up sooner.”
Coun Becky Chambers said: "As councillors we know that the end of year clear out does cause a number of issues for local residents and we have been working with the council and universities to mitigate the impact of this.
"Students are being encouraged to recycle waste rather than binning it and we have been in the area reporting any instances of fly tipping we have found.
"Although we know there are challenges at this time of year we have been pleased to see efforts by council officers to reduce the impact and encourage students to think about how they dispose of their waste. Residents should continue to report any issues on the council website or directly to us as their councillors."
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