Britain's youngest litter-picker on a solo mission to clean up his filthy city

Pint-sized five-year-old Harlee Hutchinson decided to start cleaning up Birmingham's filthy streets after getting fed-up with discarded fast food wrappers outside his family home

Britain's youngest litter picker spends all his spare time cleaning the streets in his hometown – aged just five.

Harlee Hutchinson decided to take matters into his own hands after becoming fed-up with rubbish outside his house. The youngster complained to his parents about the amount of fast-food wrappers being dumped near his home. So they took him out to collect rubbish with his trusty ‘grab n grip’ litter picker - and he became hooked on saving the environment.

Harlee now litter picks in Chelmsley Wood, Birmingham, every weekend and most evenings after school. He and his parents Amanda and Kevin hit the streets around four times a week with Harlee donning his hi-vis vest. The youngster fills around two bin bags with rubbish each time he goes out and has become a local celebrity.

Amanda, 36, said: “We live opposite a McDonald's and a KFC and Harlee got angry after seeing all the wrappers and food boxes everywhere. He said he wanted to pick the rubbish up if no one else was so we went with him and it went from there. He said he wanted to do it again. We joined a community group who gave him a hi-vis vest and a proper litter picker.

“Obviously no one wants rubbish dumped on the streets and neither does Harlee but he gets a lot out of helping clean up the community. People around here have started noticing too. An old lady gave him £20 for some cleaning as a thank you. He was so grateful but wanted to do something with it so donated it to charity. He’s literally out every other day whatever the weather.

“We can fill one bag and we haven’t got around our block. We normally take two bags. We recycle as much as we can. It would just be nice to not see as much rubbish in our area. We’re both so proud of how selfless he is, he is such a joy to be around. He is always full of compliments and thinking of others, very empathetic.”

Harlee is also a prolific charity fundraiser and makes regular donations to two local foodbanks. Proud dad Kevin, 35, said: "He would go out every day, all day if we let him, he’s just non-stop. I couldn’t be more proud of him.”