Charities boost from student recycling campaign

Charities are to benefit from a huge campaign encouraging students to recycle and reuse their property as they leave their homes this summer.

And students taking part in the scheme, affecting around 7,000 properties as well as those living in halls of residence across south Manchester, will be eligible to win tempting prizes.

Manchester City Council is working with the University of Manchester and Manchester Metropolitan University to organise the scheme in a bid to end problems caused by piles of rubbish being left outside as houses are vacated.

Students in Victoria Park area will be given bags into which they should place old clothes, sheets and shoes, as well as reusable materials, and leave outside their homes.

These materials will go to charities such as Oxfam, the Mustard Tree or the Fallowfield-based Wesley Community Furniture Project.

Students who leave materials outside for collection can text 'zero waste' with their name and address to 86099 or e-mail recycling@manchester.gov.uk and be entered into a draw to win prizes including tickets for end of term party Pangea or a year-long Stagecoach bus pass.

The campaign follows a scheme introduced last year, in which extra collections were organised for student halls of residents, and vanloads of duvets were donated to dogs' homes across the region.

Longsight Labour Councillor, Suzanne Richards said: "At lot of work has been done in the area to engage with students. It’s important that we work closely with both universities to make sure recycling is made even easier for students.”

"Manchester has the biggest student population in Europe and we're very lucky to have them here, but we also need to make sure our permanent residents face as little disruption as possible when thousands of students leave their homes at the end of the summer term"