Strawberry Student Flats director Chris Ashton explains why he runs his own litter picks on Ecclesall Road

Transcript

00:00 Yeah I'm Chris Ashton and I'm from Strobby Student Homes here in Sheffield.

00:05 That's a student homes place on Echoesall Road. We're out here today, you've got two of your

00:10 staff out taking part in a litter pick around the Echoesall area. What's this in aid of?

00:14 Basically as you can see yourself it's horrendous.

00:19 But basically us as a landlord are wanting to try and make it better for the area.

00:27 What sort of prompted this? It's not the first litter pick you say you've done.

00:30 Basically we go to a good neighbour forum meeting in Sheffield where universities go,

00:36 landlords and other things and there was a company called Sheffield Litter Pickers that were there

00:42 and we decided as a landlord to try and help in some way we can.

00:48 Would you say the littering around Echoesall area is a real problem?

00:54 I would say so, I think it is getting better. Like I said the good neighbour forums we go to,

01:00 Sheffield City Council, Veolia, they're all there and trying to do their best

01:04 but as you can see it still needs further stuff doing.

01:09 At the end of the last academic year the Star ran a number of stories about littering in this

01:15 area on Echoesall Road. This was primarily on students sort of leaving things on their doorstep

01:19 at the end of term and otherwise things blowing down the streets. You must have seen some of this

01:24 too, what were your reflections on that? To be honest I was quite saddened by it because

01:29 obviously I've been around this area for a long time doing what I'm doing but I have seen a lot

01:37 of influx in homeless and people like that ripping the bags open, emptying them out all over the

01:44 streets and that's really the main reflection that we want to try and help. As to students

01:52 themselves, there is maybe a bit of a mindset of turn and burn, it's leave it and then move on.

01:57 What can be done to tackle that kind of mindset for young people?

02:00 Well we're trying to get all our students in now too. Obviously we send letters, we send all sorts

02:08 about recycling, letting us know if bin lids are off and trying to get involved. I know the

02:14 university itself are trying to put things in place, incentives for students to help too.

02:20 So yeah that's what we're doing. I mean there are a lot of charity shops here on Ecclesall

02:25 Road, there are alternatives to getting rid of bulky items or even I don't expect students to

02:30 be able to get their way down to the waste recycling centre but there are alternatives

02:34 do you think? Yeah I do, like you say there's umpteen charity shops on Ecclesall Road.

02:40 The main problem really is the food waste and stuff what they leave behind.

02:48 When they move out in the summer they empty all the cupboards and there's food all over the floor

02:54 and everything. So same as that, the amount of food that we see that could go to food banks

02:59 and things like that, that may be a good incentive that we could try and push for as well.

03:04 Would you like to encourage any others to take part in looking after their community too?

03:09 Yeah I've spoke to a lady who runs the Cemetery Road

03:16 Cemetery yes. Cemetery. I spoke to her just before Christmas and they're going to set a group up.

03:22 We're on Sheffield Little Pickers now so there is quite a few groups that are going to help us

03:28 apparently.