A young boy from Watford chose to celebrate his birthday by inviting his friends to join him on a litter pick.
Caleb Ratcliffe, who turned seven, was inspired to carry out the selfless gesture after taking part in Keep Britain Tidy’s Great British September Clean with the Beavers last year.
The litter picking party were loaned litter pick sticks, bags and hi-visibility vests by Veolia, which delivers the recycling, waste, streets, parks and open Spaces services on behalf of Watford Borough Council.
Caleb was joined by his sister, six friends and their parents who picked litter in Fern Way alleyway. They collected two bags of litter with one bag being diverted for recycling.
Birthday boy Caleb said: "I like litter picking as it saves the environment and now when people go down the alleyway they will think it's much tidier."
Mum Naomi said: "He's always been really interested in the environment and nature. He is very much at home in the outdoors and around animals.
"After seeing and being infuriated with all the litter along the dual carriageway, he came up with the idea of a litter picking party.
"I checked it with some mums who all thought it was a brilliant and inventive idea so we ran with it. After a little research I found that Veolia actually let you borrow all the equipment (including really cute mini high-vis vests) and collected all the litter and recycling at the end so it was actually very easy to arrange."
Darren Harding, senior contract manager for Veolia, added: "Thank you Caleb for having the excellent idea of combining your birthday celebrations with sprucing up your area to be litter free.
"We are impressed with how much civic pride you are showing to your community at such a young age. We are happy for more people to borrow our litter pick kits for all seasons and all occasions."
Litter pick kits can be borrowed all year round to individuals, businesses, community groups and schools on a first come first served basis.
Email enquiries.watford@veolia.co.uk if you would like to borrow this equipment, which can be collected from the Wiggenhall Depot, Wiggenhall Road, Watford, WD18 0FB.
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