Depressing, like a sofa in the rain

As sure as flowers pop up in the spring, mountains of trash appear on the streets of Charleston as July turns to August.

Summer college classes end, fall semester approaches, and student apartments change hands, leaving a wake of broken furniture and garbage bags that can sit on the curb for days.

"This year seems to be worse than years past," said Karen Hauck, director of Keep Charleston Beautiful.

"A lot of the problems occurred in the middle of last week, and trash pickup on the peninsula is on Monday," she said. "So, the stuff sits for days and people tear through it."

City crews cleaned up most of last week's trash piles over the weekend, with extra collections Friday and Saturday funded by College of Charleston, according to several city officials.

"Of course the issue is, the kids are moving out, and they don't all move out on the same day or even the same week," said Charleston Councilwoman Yvonne Evans, chairwoman of the city's Town and Gown Committee.

"The sofas are always a problem," she said. "It's depressing when you see a sofa sitting there, and it's been rained on."

Read more in tomorrow's editions of The Post and Courier.