Chester: Scores of students and residents join forces to clean-up the Garden Quarter

A total of 58 student volunteers from the University of Chester’s sports and societies, along with residents of the Garden Quarter, gave up their Saturday morning to clean up the areas surrounding the Parkgate Road Campus.

The community clean-up took place as part of the university’s Go Green Week.

It was organised by Chester Students’ Union (CSU) and supported by the university’s sustainability team and Cheshire West and Chester Council.

Students and the community worked hard to clean up litter all over the Garden Quarter using gloves and litter pickers.

The volunteers ensured that any recyclable material was collected separately and recycled appropriately. In total about 30 bags of waste were collected.

Eleanor Lewis, CSU president and co-organiser of Go Green Week, said: “We are so proud of all our sports and societies members who came to volunteer at the community clean-up. It is fantastic to see students and the community working together to clean up the Garden Quarter. It is a great event that CSU host every year and it was a fantastic way to end Go Green Week.”

Tamara Hunt, the university’s sustainability officer, and co-organiser of Go Green Week, said: “The annual community clean-up event hosted by the Students’ Union is such a fantastic way to make a visibly positive impact in the surrounding streets and especially after the recent windy weather had blown litter around.

"During Go Green week single use plastic and the impact of rubbish on wildlife was a recurring theme, so seeing our students tackling these issues in our local community and improving the surrounding environment is wonderful.”

Councillor Bob Rudd, who is ward member for the Garden Quarter, said: “It’s great that the students at the University of Chester help each year with a community clean-up. I know the residents appreciate that the students care about the environment and want to make the Garden Quarter an even better place to live.”