Glass, empty cans and a plethora of abandoned RTD boxes littered Castle St following a busy weekend for the residents of studentville. PHOTO: STAFF REPORTER Castle St has been "a sea" of glass shards and rubbish since tertiary students started returning to Dunedin last week, and at least one North Dunedin local is not best pleased. Opoho resident Dianne Mooney said she walked through the student quarter on her way to work last week and was unhappy, though not shocked, to see the streets covered in rubbish. "There was rubbish spilled out all over the road, rubbish in non-council bags being shredded by seagulls and turned-over bins with holes in them. Every day there’s a new mess, it is a sea of glass and rubbish." She did not think the residents of Castle St, mainly occupied by student flats, knew how to deal with their rubbish, or what their collection day was, Ms Mooney said. "They will be second-year or third-year students in those flats, surely the first thing you do is find out when the rubbish collection is, and you know, what’s the process? And for God’s sake organise someone to take the thing out in time." Castle St residents spoken to last week seemed to confirm what Ms Mooney had thought might be the case. Of the 19 students the Otago Daily Times spoke to, only one got the rubbish collection day for Castle St correct — and he admitted he did not really know either. "I’m going to guess Tuesday, but I don’t actually know, we’ve just left the bags on the street and we’re just hoping they eventually disappear." Another student admitted to dumping non-council rubbish bags on the street and using her yellow recycling bin for all her rubbish. "I just chuck whatever in the yellow one, but so far it’s been tipped out into the street before whoever collects it gets a chance at it — wait, is that not what the yellow bin is for?" A University of Otago spokeswoman said as students began returning to the city over the past few days, Campus Watch staff had been going door-to-door around North Dunedin providing information about what students could do with their rubbish and recycling. "After lobbying by the university and others, the [Dunedin City Council] recently initiated extra recycling in North Dunedin with weekly collections, rather than fortnightly. This will continue this year." laine.priestley@odt.co.nz
