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UC Santa Cruz Program Tackles Departing Students' Dorm Debris

SANTA CRUZ (KCBS) — Keeping dorm room debris from departing college students out of creeks and campsites is the goal of a new program launched at University of California, Santa Cruz.

From dingy couches to old mattresses, college students have left behind small mountains of junk when they leave campus for the summer. But this year, the city of Santa Cruz is teaming up with UCSC to offer off-campus students a free pickup of unwanted items.

Mary Arman, the city's Public Works Manager, hopes the new program will pay for itself several times over.

"It's probably a lesser cost to do it this way than for us to have to respond on a daily basis. It's particularly more efficient than it is if we have to send a team of people to haul things out of a creek or a watershed," Arman said.

Charities will pick up most of the items on weekends while the city will collect the remaining bulky items during the week.

Program Aims To Collect Bulk Trash From Departing UCSC Students While Saving City Money

This Thursday marks the last day that UCSC students can sign up for the first collection day, which is next Sunday.

(Copyright 2013 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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