Over 20,000 students at the University of Lincoln
Lincoln is a student-oriented city, full of history and modernity alike.
But the issues that students bring and also experience are becoming hard to ignore, even if it is not their fault.
The University of Lincoln has over 3000 rooms of its own accommodation, and private houses and halls only see this number increase.
The main issue that students themselves seem to be complaining about is bins: the size of them and how often they fill up, and the problems that overflowing bins may cause.
In the Carholme area of Lincoln, bins are collected fortnightly, and when student houses have six or more residents, these bins overflow, fast.
Thomas Harding-Hill, resident of Moor Street, said: “The amount of rubbish we produce is much greater than the amount the bins are collected,”
“There has been several occasions where I have gone to take the bins out and they are already overflowing a week before collection day. We have had to store it in the wrong bin.”
He went on to say: “I don’t think it is our fault, there is four of us in our house and we just produce more waste than we can keep up with. It is annoying, but there isn’t much we can do.”
The University of Lincoln boasts around 20,000 students, and that amounts to a higly significant amount of waste.
Overflowing bins are not just a personal issue.
Rubbish is blown out of bins onto streets, causing an unattractive sight, or even worse, inviting rodents into residential areas.
One student says he knows the presence of animals all too well
Finley Pettifer, also of Moor Street, said: “There has been multiple times where high winds have blown old food into the street from our bins and I have seen cats eating out of them,”
“I’m not worried about pests, I’m worried about cats eating things that could make them unwell, I don’t want rats either but I’m more upset about the idea of causing a pet’s illness than seeing a rat running up and down my street.’
Students are usually provided with two bins, general waste and recycling.
In an ideal world, those who carefully separate recyclables from general waste should not have overflowing waste which leads to pests, but this is not always the case.
With exams, monetary issues and more, students may view the importance of separating waste as a minor issue compared to other stresses.
Thomas Harding-Hill said: “We try our hardest to recycle everything we can, but sometimes there just isn’t time,”
“When I’m late to a lecture, I’ll just throw my lunch away in whatever bin is closest. Sometimes it isn’t the right one, but I do try.”
Waste on the streets is a common sight in Lincoln, and although there are efforts to clean this up, it doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon.
Residents should get used to the sight of rodents, as the number of students and student housing is only on the up. IMG_1770
