Hundreds of tonnes of rubbish have so far been shifted from outside the homes of the student population in Leeds.
Residents attending the Little Woodhouse Community Forum in Leeds Civic Hall yesterday evening were given a rundown of the council's street cleaning efforts following the student changeover period.
Chris Firth, of Leeds Streetscene, said that some 600 tonnes of refuse had been collected from the Headingley ward area alone in the past few weeks.
Firth said: "It's obviously a very large operation for us, but it seems to have gone well so far."
He said that there was a problem with 'bagslashers' emptying the contents of bags left by students onto the streets in a bid to find items of use.
He added:
"Some students are throwing out things like clothes, TVs, even laptops, which make the bags a target for people."
Residents also heard about the award-winning student-led Green Streets project, which collects items throughout the LS6 area which would otherwise be sent to landfill, and redistributes them to charities, hostels and shelters. Last year, it collected 21 tonnes of unwanted items.
Mobile phone mast concerns
Little Woodhouse residents also spoke of their concerns over proposals for a mobile phone mast almost 15 metres tall in the residential area of St John's Road.
One local resident said: "You will be able to see it from everywhere - Little Woodhouse will become known as 'the place with that great big tower'. It's one of the biggest planning question marks we've had for a long time."
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