Meet the pint-sized litter picker cleaning up Edinburgh one rubbish bag at a time

Before: Determined Lizzy gets ready to reclaim her outdoor play space.

Three-year-old Lizzy Miteva lives in the South-West of Edinburgh with her mother Valentina Miteva.

After a day out in the city, the pair returned home to find their shared garden covered with debris.

Plastic bags, fizzy juice bottles and empty crisp packets had been discarded across the green space the young girl enjoys using for her games.

During: Lizzy and mum, Valentina Miteva, managed to fill than 10 bags full of rubbish.

Lizzy was disappointed that her play space had been ruined and said that “it smells a lot”.

Determined to clean up her daughter's outside play area Ms Miteva asked Lizzy if she wanted to help tidy up the area.

Ms Miteva said: “We had been away from the house and when we came back we found the garden looked like that. My daughter told me ‘It smells a lot’ so I asked her if she wants to help me clear it.”

Bin bags in hand the duo started work and collected over ten bags of rubbish in total from the communal garden.

After: Now clear of litter Lizzy can play safely in the shared garden.

Ms Miteva hopes her daughter's efforts will inspire others to keep the city’s green spaces clean and is looking for other litter picks throughout the Capital.

She thinks that seeing a toddler hard at work tidying the city may encourage litter droppers to tidy up after themselves.

Saying: “People might feel ashamed a three-year-old is picking up their rubbish.”

Since March locals have said there has been an increase in the amount of rubbish left in the city’s parks and gardens.

In an effort to get rid of the rubbish socially distanced litter picks have been taking place across the city-funded by Zero Waste Scotland.

The funding provides families and small groups with litter picking and survey kits to deal with littering in their local area.

Chief Executive of Zero Waste Scotland, Iain Gulland said: “Whether it has been our local streets, parks, woodland, countryside or coastline, recent months have highlighted how valuable our environment is to so many of us and why it needs to be kept that way.

“It is a shame that these projects have to take place and a small number continue to drop litter. We urge people to get involved and help to keep the areas they hold dear clean and precious.”

If you see a litter problem in your local area you can report it to the Edinburgh city Council here.

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