Drive to support students to recycle in Swansea gets underway
Extra support is being provided to new and returning students in Swansea to help them manage their household waste.
Swansea Council's Recycling Team has partnered up with Swansea University, rolling out this year's 'Get it Sorted' recycling campaign, in a bid to get thousands of students on the right track.
More than 1,600 student recycling packs have already been delivered to homes in student areas, including Brynmill, Uplands, St Thomas and Mount Pleasant.
This month, a special pop-up tent will be in Singleton Park, once a week, with a team talking to hundreds of students as they walk to and from lectures. Recycling bags, food caddies and information packs will be handed out so everyone knows what day their waste collections are and what waste goes in the different colour sacks.
Mark Thomas, Cabinet Member for Environment Enhancement and Infrastructure Management 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.
"The pop-up events we have organised are always really successful in terms of passing on valuable advice to our new residents.
"It's likely many of them are from a different city or town where waste collections are slightly different so we want to give them all the assistance possible to help them make that transition and be part of our communities.
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.
Cllr Thomas added: "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."
Online support is also available specifically for students, providing plenty of information on waste collections.