Reading university to encourage students to be responsible

Although the university has sizeable halls of residence, many students live off campus in private rented accommodation.

Recently, overstuffed bins have been spotted in Blenheim Road and several other streets popular with students.

Now, it’s been announced that the university is to launch a new campaign, called ‘Hello Neighbour’, to help integrate students into the communities they will be living in.

READ MORE: Awful cases of overstuffed bins and flytipping in university area of Reading

The inaitive is being spearheaded by Molli Cleaver, the university’s community relations officer, who was appointed in April.

Officer Cleaver said: “Looking ahead to encourage students to be more responsible with their waste, our Hello Neighbour campaign will kick off in September which will provide information on key topics such as waste, recycling, bottles, noise, safety, parking etc.

“This will be ran in collaboration with Reading Borough Council, Thames Valley Police and Reading University Students Union and will include another series of door knocking sessions in late September and early October where we will be handing out Hello Neighbour packs that contain the information mentioned above.

READ MORE: Push for smaller bin lorries in Reading due to narrow streets

“I have been working hard with Redlands and Park Ward Councillors alongside Cllr Karen Rowland, Lead Councillor for Environmental Services and Community Safety, to take a more joined up approach to dealing with these issues.

“In particular, there will be clearer signposting for local residents if they do face any waste issues that they believe are being caused by students.

“I also continue to work closely with the council’s Recycling and Enforcement team who do regular walk abouts of key student streets and send reports of waste issues.

“I am then able to identify the student tenants and address them directly to deal with the excess waste.”

The rubbish dumped in Blenheim Road, East Reading. Credit: James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporting Service

She added that the University is funding an extra bin collection which will be taking place this Saturday (July 9).

It is hoped much of the waste from the overflowing bins will be taken then.

There is also an issue of glass bottles in Blenheim Road being left outside of homes where they are likely to smash, rather than being deposited in nearby bottle banks in Erleigh Road.

One is located near the junction of Addington Road, which has become a flytipping hotspot, and the other is located outside Monkey Lounge.

arge amounts of rubbish dumped at the bottle bank in Erleigh Road, East Reading. Credit: James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporting Service

On the issue of glass bottles, Officer Cleaver said: “The Hello Neighbour campaign will contain information on bottle bank locations to encourage students to not let glass build up in front gardens.

“We are also fully supportive of the council’s efforts to lobby Government to change local bin collections so glass can be collected from individual homes which would significantly improve the problem.”

Reading does not currently have kerbside glass recycling, unlike neighbouring West Berkshire.

When the council was questioned why kerbside glass recycling has not been introduced, then lead councillor for neighbourhoods and communities Adele Barnet-Ward (Labour, Thames) said the council had to wait for guidance from the Government’s Environment Act 2021 to be published before introducing a service.