Swansea students get on board with city recycling effort

New and returning students coming to Swansea to study are being encouraged to ‘get it sorted’ and recycle their household waste.

Now that the new study year has started in the city, recycling officers in Swansea Council have been working hard to distribute hundreds of household recycling kits to students living in residential areas so they know exactly what can be recycled in the home and when their collections take place.

More than 1,500 recycling starter packs have been sent to all rented accommodation in the city, including houses in multiple occupation in Uplands and Brynmill.

Students living in St Thomas and Port Tennant will also receive recycling packs and advice on how to use the service correctly.

Recycling officers are also carrying out weekly door knocking in student areas, before and after planned weekly bin collections. The aim is to remind students of their recycling and waste collection days and what materials are being collected.

Pop-up recycling events have also been held in Singleton Park, where students going to and from lectures at Swansea University, can pick up extra recycling equipment or talk to the recycling team about any issues they may have with collections.

Cyril Anderson, Cabinet Member for Community, said: “The first weeks of term for new students coming into the city can be quite daunting and very busy. So we need to do what we can to make it as easy as possible for them to get to grips with services such as recycling.

“The packs we have delivered to students living in our city will provide all the info they need to join in with the majority of other residents in Swansea and help us recycle household waste.

“It’s also important that students know what days their waste is collected so we can avoid having bags left on streets creating a mess.”

“Recycling officers will also be monitoring the streets where the packs have been delivered and will offer further help to student residents if they have spotted pink bags that have been place out on a green week and vice-versa.

“We don’t expect all of our newest residents to get it right first time so we want to make sure they have the support to not make mistakes in the future.”

The Council has also developed special student web pages where students can go to find out everything they need to about city, including transport services, waste collections and places of interest – www.swansea.gov.uk/students

(Lead image: Swansea Council)