Students who are moving out of their homes in Bath for the summer are being encouraged to drop off their good quality, unwanted items at British Heart Foundation collection banks.
Cllr Dine Romero, Tom McGrath and Ghika Savva | Photo © B&NES Council
The Student Move Out campaign is an initiative being led by the Student Community Partnership, working with Bath and North East Somerset Council and the British Heart Foundation.
Fourteen collection banks have been dropped at temporary sites across the city and the donations will provide much-needed items for the charity’s network of shops.
Donated clothes, utensils, electronic equipment and books can all be resold to help fund future life-saving research into heart and circulatory diseases and their risk factors and cut down on waste going to landfill.
Councillor Dine Romero, cabinet member for Children and Young People, and Communities, said: “We’ve had a great response from students in the past and we hope that with the extra collection points we can make it even easier for departing students to drop off unwanted items.
“Donating helps to prevent unnecessary waste and carbon emissions being released into the atmosphere and enables the British Heart Foundation to continue providing 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.
Last year, despite the low number of students on campus, the campaign raised £19,404 and collected almost 2,000 bags of donations.
Ghika Savva, Student Community Partnership Community Liaison Co-ordinator said: “The Moving Out Campaign is a highlight of the year for the SCP team.
“All the partners: Bath and Bath Spa Universities, Bath College and Norland College, the Student Unions and Bath and North East Somerset Council, working together to minimise the environmental impact of students leaving the city for the summer.
“Throughout the ten years of this collaboration with BHF over 375 tonnes has been diverted from landfill, equivalent to 3,818,736kg CO2 emissions and over £656,000 has been raised by students in Bath.
“These funds go towards the provision of Heart Start Schemes, defibrillators, free Heart Health resources, CPR training, supporting the BHF Retail shops and research grants.”
Tim Reeves, university account executive at British Heart Foundation said: “We are really grateful for the continuing support in Bath.
“The bag numbers last year, considering all the challenges, outweighed our expectations and contributed in a large way to the recovery of the British Heart Foundation after the losses of 2020.”
This year there will be an additional five clothing banks situated across the city. They will be in position until the end of July.
- Beechen Cliff Villas, Widcombe & Lyncombe (alongside the on-street Grit Bin)
- Bridge Road, Southdown (next to the former toilet block)
- Brook Road, Westmoreland
- Dartmouth Avenue, Southdown
- Holloway, Widcombe & Lyncombe (at the bottom of the steps to Carlton Walk)
- Julian Road, Lansdown
- Locksbrook Road, Newbridge (Outside Bath Spa University Campus)
- Oldfield Lane, Oldfield Park
- Shaftsbury Road, Oldfield Park (Outside Coop – permission pending)
- Canterbury Road, Oldfield Park
- Twerton High Street, Southdown
- Victoria Road, Westmoreland
- West Avenue, Westmoreland
- Widcombe Baptist Church, Widcombe & Lyncombe
The SCP Donation Map shows where the donation points are located and what can be donated.
In addition to the collection banks, SCP officers, council employees and student volunteers have been knocking on doors to give advice to students on recycling using the regular waste collection boxes.
