Bath students who are moving into their homes for the new academic year are being signposted to council services and points of contact for information, help or assistance.

As part of the annual Student Move In Campaign, an initiative being led by the Student Community Partnership (SCP), officers from Bath and North East Somerset Council’s Waste team and the Clean & Green Project will be joining SCP and student volunteers in residential areas of Bath, knocking on doors to give advice to students.

Council officers also attended the Fresher Fairs at Bath Spa University and Bath University to provide information on council waste and recycling services and the SCP introduced its services and advised students on river safety awareness and nightlife safety.

The council’s waste team has also sent out an email to all letting agencies across B&NES including a digital waste education information pack, that they can provide to new tenants.

Councillor Kevin Guy, leader of the council, has written to all student residents to extend a warm welcome to the area and explain the range of services delivered by the council.

During the summer, the annual Student Moving Out campaign encouraged students to drop off their good quality, preloved items at British Heart Foundation (BHF) donation points across the city.

Seven donation points were situated at temporary sites across the city with the donations providing much needed stock for BHF’s network of shops. Donated clothes, books, shoes, and electronic equipment are resold to help fund life-saving research into heart and circulatory diseases.

This year the campaign collected 2,985 bags of donations – the equivalent of up to £41,790 worth of donations - and diverted 23.8 tonnes of items from disposal. There were also two separate sites for Bath College, which brought in an additional 126 bags of donations worth up to £1,764.

Councillor Paul May, cabinet member for Children’s Services, said: Students play a welcome role in Bath & North East Somerset, getting involved in all sorts of local projects such as volunteering. This year we had a fantastic response to our Move Out Campaign. The textile donation points managed to divert more than 23 tonnes from disposal, preventing unnecessary waste and reducing the amount of carbon emissions released into the atmosphere. It is a great way to support the British Heart Foundation which provides defibrillators and CPR training for local organisations across B&NES.”

The SCP is a partnership of the University of Bath, Bath Spa University, Bath College and their students’ unions and with Norland College and Bath & North East Somerset Council.

Ghika Savva, SCP Manager, said: “We were delighted with this response from students. Despite having half the donation points as 2022 the campaign diverted a similar amount of preloved items from going into landfill. This initiative is also well used by other local residents and we plan to extend the campaign again in 2024. The SCP team manages the B&NES part of this national campaign, whilst the two universities and Bath College host donation points on campus. This is a great example of our effective partnership working to support our shared community.”

Tim Reeves, BHF University Account Executive, said: “We have been delighted with the response from the SCP and students from across Bath and their incredible support. Our shops rely on donations to continue raising money to fund lifesaving research. Thanks to the generous donations from the students and staff we have been able to help our shops in Bath.”