Leave Liverpool Tidy is a campaign that’s been running for over ten years, targeting university students moving out at the end of the academic year and bringing together Liverpool City Council, Liverpool Streetscene Services Ltd (LSSL), Councillors, students’ unions and other partners. While charity donations are accepted year-round, extra measures kick in during the move-out period to tackle waste and boost reuse.
Here, the Council’s Private Sector Housing team reflects on the hard work behind the scenes.
Every summer, as students move homes, Liverpool faces a recurring challenge: managing the levels of waste left behind. Yet through smart work and innovative collaboration we were able to make a difference over this period.
Thanks to a proactive approach the end of the 2024/2025 academic year was one of the cleanest yet. This is thanks to the incredible teamwork between The Council’s Neighbourhoods and Private Sector Housing teams, LSSL, the Liverpool Guild of Students, and John Moores Student Union.
A green approach
At the heart of this year’s success was the message: Don’t dump it – donate it! Through the Leave Liverpool Tidy campaign, a range of donation points were rolled out across the university campus, Kensington Fields, and a dedicated recycling container in Smithdown.
Items were given a new life as donations to the British Heart Foundation and Fareshare meaning the campaign supported vital causes while keeping our streets clean. The campaign saw lots of contributions from students and in total the initiative saw the following donations:
- 147 bags of clothing
- 10 moving boxes full of homeware
- 16 moving boxes full of crockery
- Some shelving units, tv stands, pictures and picture frames, vases, mirrors and clothes horses.
Community skips and litter picks
LSSL played a vital role by deploying community skips across The Dale Streets, Lawrence Road and Kensington Fields. These skips gave residents a convenient way to dispose of larger items and provided instant relief to paths and alleyways and side dumping as the team removed waste from priority areas and placed them in the skips.
Streetscene’s tireless work to ensure that fly-tipping was swiftly dealt ensured that all proactive reporting was addressed.
Meanwhile, student volunteers from the Guild and LJMU Students’ Union joined forces with council teams for litter picks, helping to keep the area looking its best.
Proactive days
The Private Sector Housing team didn’t wait for problems to pile up. They patrolled the streets in a series of proactive days throughout May, June, and early July. This targeted fly-tipping hotspots, accumulations in the front yards of homes and contaminated bins.
The team contacted landlords and letting agents to have overgrown gardens cut, dumped furniture removed, and piles of waste bags cleared in order to resolve issues at the earliest stage.
Communication was key
Behind the scenes communication made a difference. The Private Sector Housing team kept landlords and agents informed about the donation and waste initiatives. This channel paid off with many landlords supporting the initiative and actively encouraged their tenants to donate at pop-up sites or dispose of waste responsibly.
In-person engagement, letter drops, and updates to community members created a two-way dialogue and ensured everyone felt part of the solution.
A cleaner Liverpool
Over the past three years, we’ve committed to improving student waste management and delivered on that promise. Each year has seen more donations, greater engagement from students and landlords, fewer complaints, and faster responses to abandoned waste. Our efforts have been recognised by residents’ groups and supported by ward councillors and the Cabinet Member from the outset. We’re proud of the progress and remain focused on raising the bar each year.
