Lots of students will be leaving Leeds over the next few weeks - and naturally there's potential - this year more than ever - for lots of food and other household items to get thrown away.

Fortunately there's an excellent project in Leeds that's set up to deal with this - the End of Term Big Clear Out. Last year they saved over 16 tonnes of good quality stuff from being thrown away!

We'll share more information here as we get it - but here's what we know so far:

End of Term Big Clear Out

A door to door collection is being operated in many areas. If you have received a leaflet and blue donation bag through your letter box then you are in a collection area! If not drop them off at our collection point at Wrangthorn Church on the 26th and 27th June.

Simply place your donations in the blue bag outside your gate by midday on the 14th, 21st and 28th June and they will collect.  You can place two additional bags of items out for collection if packaged in clear strong bags.

What they're collecting

Clean and reusable items – clothing- paired shoes- books-CDs & DVDs-small electrical items (eg. hair dryers, toasters)- pots, pans and crockery- sports- and bric-a-brac

What they can't collect

Dirty and damaged items

Sharp items like knives

Duvets, pillows and bedsheets
Toiletries and laundry items
General waste
Food (but see below for separate arrangements for food).

Separate collection of non-perishable food

Keep an eye out for a separate collection on the 26th and 27th June where they will be collecting non-perishable food to support a local food bank.

Get involved!

The Big Clear Out relies on volunteers - if you might have a few hours to spare over the next few weeks to help with tasks like sorting out donations, please get in touch with them - more info here.

Other options

If you're outside of the collection area, or you don't get round to sorting out your stuff to put into a blue bag, then there are other options for donating good quality items. We've got a list of charity shops, plus other options like local online giveaway sites here.

There's information here about how to book a slot at a local Household Waste Site - for most students living in LS6 the nearest site will be in Kirkstall or Meanwood. Don't forget there's a Revive reuse shop at the Kirkstall site which accepts donations (you don't need to book to drop off donations there).

Glass recycling

If you have glass bottles and jars to recycle, there are glass banks across LS6 - including several banks around Woodhouse Moor - you can find your nearest glass bank on our map.