It’s the time of year when McGill students move out – and the annual occurrence leads to an annual problem.

Garbage is once again littering the streets of the McGill Ghetto as students leave an unsightly mess for those who live in the area year-round.

“It's unsightly and it's the waste of things,” said Lucia Kowaluk, who has lived in the neighbourhood for 45 years.

Used mattresses, old comforters,broken desks, chairs and shelves line the streets, turning the community into bit of a dump.

“Obviously this amount of garbage is more than a garbage truck can pick up,” said Kowaluk.

One of the most densely populated areas of Montreal, about 11,000 people live in the McGill Ghetto, including an estimated 3,500 students.

Students say the semester-ending dump hasn't seemed to change over the years.

“It's not a very pretty sight,” said student Noor Khleif. “It looks bad, it makes the streets looks bad, so I definitely understand their distress.”

Even those who try to sell their belongings often end up leaving them on the street, added Andrew Tran.

“Everyone is selling their stuff at the same time so no one can end up doing it. So they just end up dumping it on the street. I'm not sure what the solution would be, but it's definitely annoying.”

Ava Rofougaran said students often have no other choice.

“I think it’s hard to find where to throw it out because everyone has so much stuff. It's hard tocarry it around. We're students and we don’t have a lot of resources so putting it out is the only way,” she said.

People who live in the neighbourhood year-round say there has to be a better system so this doesn't keep happening year after year.

“We've added extra resources to cleaning up the mess that's been left by students,” said city councillor Alex Norris, who said more money has been added this year to manage the situation.

Even that larger budget, he said, isn't enough to keep up with the mess.

“We have two ten-wheel trucks with a front loader that are circulating full-time in the neighbourhood. As well, two pick-up trucks that are circulating in the neighbourhood full-time and we've added resources to our twice weekly garbage pick-up,” he said.

It’s a start, said Kowaluk, who feels there's a lesson in consideration here for students.

“They're moving into a neighbourhood where people live year-round,” she said.