Over the past year, relations between students and non-student residents in Leamington has improved compared to past years. However, there is still one main point of contention that exists: the volume of refuse students leave lying around. This can be for many reasons: partly because there is generally just more waste in student houses, due to each person being an individual entity in the house; partly due to students sometimes leaving rubbish out on the wrong days; and partly because sometimes residents think any dirty house is a Warwick student house.

At the end of every academic year, when all student lets end, large numbers of students move house over the same week or so at the end of June. This mass move creates a massive amount of rubbish to be left behind in Leam’s residential areas, causing bad feeling between the student population and more permanent residents. Even though a substantial portion of it could be reused/recycled, it is still often disposed of incorrectly, leaving useful items being sent to landfill. Students get a bad rep with non-student residents, and the environment loses out too.

That’s where we come in. The aim of the Leave Leam Tidy project is to reduce the impact of students moving out on the local community, to ensure that local resources are used more effectively, to stop useful items being sent to landfill. We've got information and advice to help students make sure moving house doesn’t mean messing up the local area or the environment (see our Leam students page).

The problem in general

As mentioned above, the amount of rubbish students leave can aggravate non-student residents in Leamington. If students don't put their rubbish out on the right days, then they run the risk of falling foul of Warwick District Council. This year, they've started cracking down on students leaving rubbish out at the wrong times.

Under section 46 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (click here if you want to read the act), they have the power to issue a notice against you if you don't put household waste in the right place at the right time (i.e. in the right bin/bag, and out on the right day). Unless you have grounds to appeal, this gives them the power to then issue fixed penalty notices, or even take you to court, if you don't comply with the notice. There is an example photograph of a property that's been served a Section 46 notice below:

For more info, click on the image on the right.