School is winding down for another year. Classes at Western University end on April 7th with exams running from April 9-30. At Fanshawe College, the end of winter term is April 26th. That means that College and University students are in the final push to finish all assignments, but also that it is time for many of them to return home for the summer. While students may be excited about the prospect of leaving the academic year behind, residents of London, Ontario worry about something else being left behind—garbage.

Every year when students pack up their student residences for the season, they leave behind whatever they cannot or don’t want to take with them. This includes broken or damaged furniture, unwanted bedding, and an inordinate amount of trash. For area residents, it is an eyesore. For city workers, it represents bigger loads to haul, longer hours, and the need for extra trucks on the road.

It doesn’t have to be that way though. Not all of the things dumped at the curb are garbage. Many items don’t fit into the u-hauls that parents show up with to take their children home, so it gets abandoned, whether it has any use left in it or not. With a little pre-planning, some of that excess can be salvaged though.

How to Clean Out Student Residences

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  Garbage left outside student residences; Image Source https://goo.gl/zPwwFp

  Start packing in the month leading up to your estimated departure date

• Take some items home on your last visit home to reduce the amount you need to deal with on moving day
• Purge broken or damaged items when they become damaged, so you are not overwhelmed when it comes time to pack
• List unwanted items on online garage sales to recycle them back into someone else’s hands
• If you will be returning the following year, see if you can leave some items over the summer

Be conscientious of your neighbours. Don’t leave a massive pile of waste on the curb when you leave. If your waste is more than the City of London’s official 3-bag limit, hire a company to dispose of your rubbish for you.

Load of Rubbish has one of the largest junk removal trucks in the city at 600 cubic feet. We pride ourselves on our prompt, professional and timely service, and do our part to recycle as many usable items as possible back into the community. Do your part to leave your student residence in an acceptable manner for your landlord, neighbours, the city, and your own sense of self-respect. You just might find you improve the image of not only yourself, but the student population as a whole. And maybe our views on humanity.