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9:07am Wednesday 2nd July 2008
UNWANTED clothes, TVs, videos, stereos and abandoned personal documents lay strewn across the streets.
These are the images that have left residents living in a popular student area comparing their neighbourhood to a war zone.
Watch the video of the scavengers going through the students' rubbish - click here
The latest round of the student housing merry-go-round has seen even more personal belongings dumped outside homes in the Polygon area of Southampton.
It is an increasing headache for residents, and the council that has to clear up the resulting mess.
Now the long-standing problem is being made worse still by scavengers hunting through the items looking for goods to use or sell.
Pat Othen has lived in the area for 25 years, but was horrified at the sights she has seen this week.
"It's just so irresponsible, and it's heartbreaking for me to watch what's happening and see it like this," said the 58-year-old, a member of the local Residents Action Team.
"I've never seen anything like it in my life - it looks more like a war zone.
"I'm not a student- hater, I mix very well with the young people around here. I'm just someone trying to help solve the problem."
She believes many of the things being thrown away could instead be donated to charities to be used or sold.
"There's something wrong because these students just don't seem to know the value of things," she said.
"Because they don't pay for it themselves out of their own pockets, they don't know the value of anything.
"People have been out rifling through the bins looking for stuff they can use. I don't blame them, because it's all working stuff.
"But it's the mess the scroungers leave. They've been round three times in less than a week.
"The council has to send one truck round to go all along the road picking up stuff from the pavement and clearing bags that are spilling out of the bins, and we've then got the street cleaners.
"That's all before the bin men even come along to clear the bins."
Pat has taken her video camera out on to the streets nearby to document the extent of the problem, even finding people rifling through bins and rubbish bags in broad daylight.
As well as a working TV with remote control, she says she has seen a video camera, musical equipment, expensive art materials, clothing and jewellery all dumped.
One file even included a student's pay slips and tax details, driving licence, phone bills and personal letters.
Pat believes more must be done to force students to dispose of their unwanted belongings responsibly.
But a Southampton Solent University spokeswoman said the university and students' union had been working with local agencies to promote sensible action.
"In May, city council leaflets were distributed to the student community advising students on the various ways to dispose of their waste," she said.
"Contact details were given for the Rubbish Revived' site, local charity SCRATCH and Actionline. In addition, free recycling sacks were available from the university during May and June."
hulla, baloo says...
9:48am Wed 2 Jul 08
saddened wrote:Nothing to do with the University, as they cannot be held responsible for the actions of their students.
The university should be amde to pay to clear up the mess the students left behind. The council is not responsible for the actions of the students - the universities need to take responsibility for the thoughtless actions of the students or the landlords renting out the flats.
sammy, soton says...
9:52am Wed 2 Jul 08
Osama Bin Laden, A Cave far far away says...
9:57am Wed 2 Jul 08
David, Portswood says...
11:20am Wed 2 Jul 08
huckit P, Winchester says...
12:01pm Wed 2 Jul 08
George, says...
12:29pm Wed 2 Jul 08
me, here says...
12:31pm Wed 2 Jul 08
George, says...
12:37pm Wed 2 Jul 08
me wrote:If the last guy out doesn't want to clean up everyone else's mess, he should make sure they take it with them. Sorry, excuse denied. I've been a student, too, so this isn't a student-bashing exercise. We had no such problems in our shared housing, because we were aware enough not to just let people move on and leave a pile of cr@p behind. If you've got the means to move house, you have, by definition, the means to dispose of some rubbish.
Having been a student i would like to put their point across. A lot of the time when students move out, they all leave at different times from one house, and each person in turn leaves a few things. The last person in the house should not be expected to clear up the other peoples mess. No only that, but a lot of students simply dont have the means to dispose of the rubbish. The refuse collection wont take half of it, and not many students have cars to transport it to dumps. As for things that still work, the same must be said. It is hard to pack an entire years life into one small car.
Im not sure this should be a witch-hunt to find blame. Each party involved should try and make it better. Students dont purposely set out to leave mounds of rubbish around, they just dont know what else to do.
I await the barrage of 'student scum doesnt know about life tax dodger blah blah blah'
George, says...
12:43pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Osama Bin Laden wrote:So presumably you won't ever be using any doctors when you fall ill? Student scum. Got a headache? Don't take any painkillers for it, chemistry students up to their usual pranks. Buying a house? Make sure you don't use a solicitor. Student scum. Drive a car? Pah! Built by machines designed by student scum. Live in a house, designed by an architect? Student scum! I note you're quite happy to use t'Internet. Guess whose idea that was.
Blame Southampton Council for letting the Scum Students in the first place
Mark, soton says...
1:13pm Wed 2 Jul 08
me wrote:That is the most pathetic excuse I have ever heard. I know students lose all common sense during their time at Uni, but do you really believe the waffle you just wrote???
Having been a student i would like to put their point across. A lot of the time when students move out, they all leave at different times from one house, and each person in turn leaves a few things. The last person in the house should not be expected to clear up the other peoples mess. No only that, but a lot of students simply dont have the means to dispose of the rubbish. The refuse collection wont take half of it, and not many students have cars to transport it to dumps. As for things that still work, the same must be said. It is hard to pack an entire years life into one small car. Im not sure this should be a witch-hunt to find blame. Each party involved should try and make it better. Students dont purposely set out to leave mounds of rubbish around, they just dont know what else to do. I await the barrage of 'student scum doesnt know about life tax dodger blah blah blah'
Mike, Southampton says...
1:16pm Wed 2 Jul 08
George wrote:I used to be a student too and totally agree George.
me wrote: Having been a student i would like to put their point across. A lot of the time when students move out, they all leave at different times from one house, and each person in turn leaves a few things. The last person in the house should not be expected to clear up the other peoples mess. No only that, but a lot of students simply dont have the means to dispose of the rubbish. The refuse collection wont take half of it, and not many students have cars to transport it to dumps. As for things that still work, the same must be said. It is hard to pack an entire years life into one small car. Im not sure this should be a witch-hunt to find blame. Each party involved should try and make it better. Students dont purposely set out to leave mounds of rubbish around, they just dont know what else to do. I await the barrage of 'student scum doesnt know about life tax dodger blah blah blah'If the last guy out doesn't want to clean up everyone else's mess, he should make sure they take it with them. Sorry, excuse denied. I've been a student, too, so this isn't a student-bashing exercise. We had no such problems in our shared housing, because we were aware enough not to just let people move on and leave a pile of cr@p behind. If you've got the means to move house, you have, by definition, the means to dispose of some rubbish.
The Texan, says...
1:23pm Wed 2 Jul 08
George on 12:43pm today
Osama Bin Laden wrote: Blame Southampton Council for letting the Scum Students in the first placeSo presumably you won't ever be using any doctors when you fall ill? Student scum. Got a headache? Don't take any painkillers for it, chemistry students up to their usual pranks. Buying a house? Make sure you don't use a solicitor. Student scum. Drive a car? Pah! Built by machines designed by student scum. Live in a house, designed by an architect? Student scum! I note you're quite happy to use t'Internet. Guess whose idea that was. Yeh, I really hate how all these student scumbags make the world such a miserable place
Ken, Stubbington says...
1:46pm Wed 2 Jul 08
George, says...
1:48pm Wed 2 Jul 08
The Texan wrote:Nice try, but the argument's upside-down. Suppose I showed you that (plucks figure from rectum) 20% of students go on to improve the world. What can we conclude from that? Not much, really. You could pull some hand-waving about the remaining 80%, but that wouldn't mean much either.
George on 12:43pm today
Osama Bin Laden wrote: Blame Southampton Council for letting the Scum Students in the first placeSo presumably you won't ever be using any doctors when you fall ill? Student scum. Got a headache? Don't take any painkillers for it, chemistry students up to their usual pranks. Buying a house? Make sure you don't use a solicitor. Student scum. Drive a car? Pah! Built by machines designed by student scum. Live in a house, designed by an architect? Student scum! I note you're quite happy to use t'Internet. Guess whose idea that was. Yeh, I really hate how all these student scumbags make the world such a miserable place
With an outburst like that, could you please give figures, percentages of the amount of students that actually do go on to make the world better?
I think he was talking about the student scum that stay up all night doing drugs, drinking and partying till all hours, don't have an ounce of respect for anyone including themselves and generally use the title "student" as a replacement for "lazy no good scumbag that will milk the system as well as my parents until i go to rehab or some wealthy idiot of a girl can convince her parents i'm worth pouring more money in to".
That sort of student!
flat mate polygon, polygon says...
2:13pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Pat Othen, Polygon says...
2:47pm Wed 2 Jul 08
clair, Soton students says...
3:06pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Bambi, says...
4:03pm Wed 2 Jul 08
clair wrote:How's it a deposit if it's non-refundable? Surely that's just an up-front cleaning bill
Compulsory non-refundable deposit from each and everyone paid to the landlord and each end of term council will receive from the landlord 75% of the deposit for cleaning up the area. Then we will see if the council do their job!
clair
Lowe and Behold, St Marys hotseat says...
8:05pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Pat Othen wrote:Maybe you can use the art set for your make up...lol
Soton Council sent out extra forces to clean up the area ,yesterday extra road sweepers ,litter pickers and garbage trucks were in full force in the area ,today at 1 .30 pm more litter pickers were working filling up sacks with beer bottles,cans and food wrappers,all just thrown down by new residents who moved in yesterday, when on thier way home last night from clubs and bars nearby.if they recieved an on the spot fine for littering,this problem would soon go away.You cannot expect police or the university or the council or even the landlords to do anything about it ,they are adults ,if only they behaved like it BOTTOM LINE IS Please respect our area,whilst you are here in our city for your education.
Pollyanna, Southampton says...
10:05pm Wed 2 Jul 08
JillyBee, Portswood says...
11:01pm Wed 2 Jul 08
Lorraine Barter, Southampton says...
9:38am Thu 3 Jul 08
JillyBee wrote:We must be thankful that a few brave non student citizens stay in the student/HMO ghettos paying council so that extra refuse collectors and lorries can come out to deal with student refuse. Landlords should be paying to have their gardens cleared now there is no free "Take away ".
Much of Highfield and Portswood looked appalling this morning, with colossal amounts of rubbish just dumped in porches and driveways. So all credit to the council bin men, who did a fantastic job of restoring normality to much of the area during the day - thanks very much, you're a great bunch of people, doing a terrific job that most of us would rather not do!
Pukeko, Dunedin, New Zealand. says...
2:20pm Thu 3 Jul 08
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saddened, Southampton says...
9:25am Wed 2 Jul 08