Keep Jesmond Clean, the organisation that leads monthly street cleaning events, is encouraging students from Newcastle and Northumbria University to join their next litter pick on Saturday 13th January.

Keep Jesmond Clean is a community action group run locally by Jesmond residents who are passionate about keeping the local area clean. The ultimate goal is to reduce the amount of waste left around the streets and promote recycling within Jesmond.

The clean-ups take place on a monthly basis on the second Saturday of every month, alternating between North and South Jesmond. The alternating order is because the group receives funding from local councillors, which covers both wards.

The increasing number of students living in Jesmond has led to a rise in the amount of rubbish in the area, which has frustrated the locals.

In some areas of Jesmond, specifically Sunbury Avenue, up to 94% specific streets comprise HMOs, which tend to house students, according to data from Newcastle City Council.

Keep Jesmond Clean secretary and Jesmond resident, Rachel Gibson, told JesmondLocal: “We struggle to get students down to participate in the event, and we would like them to come. We feel like they’re the culprits and they should also help to clean up.”

Gibson said: “I suppose we just have to do something; I think people prefer to get annoyed about it rather than actually doing something about it.”

During the clean-ups, volunteers said they found waste left from night-out, including cans, bottles and takeaway wrappers – litter they say was likely left behind by students, and left the local area looking unappealing.

Volunteer for Keep Jesmond Clean and local resident, Michael Cribbs, said: “There’s a lot of rubbish on the streets of Jesmond and it’s largely because of the student population. When I was younger and Jesmond was a lesser student-populated area, we never had to do this.”

Keep Jesmond Clean said that while people don’t necessarily have to come to these clean up events, individuals can still be conscious with where they are putting their rubbish – whether that be on a night out or during day-to-day life.

While Jesmond’s permanent residents believe that the main issue surrounding litter is due to students, they also recognise the issue of not having enough bin space.

Students in Jesmond can be living in houses with up to 10 people, which traditionally were built for a house of four, resulting in students not having enough space to recycle their rubbish.

Cribbs told JesmondLocal: “We appreciate that sometimes your bins are full, due to the amount of people in a house, so you’re going to put your rubbish in any bin which has space. We have spoken to representatives from the local council to try to resolve this issue.”

In addition to the regular pickup this coming weekend, Keep Jesmond Clean will be hosting an event on Monday January 15th in the main room of Jesmond Library at 5pm. Anyone is welcome to attend, however students are encouraged to get involved to discuss their plans for the year.

Residents are encouraged to report any individuals who are dumping litter in the streets to the local council. You can report this through Newcastle Council’s website.