A CARING and environmentally friendly youngster has taken matters into his own hands by cleaning up litter in the park.

Ethan Carvey, five, of Thorpe, goes to the park in the village regularly and took notice of the rubbish that was piling up around the bin area.

One day, he pointed out to his father, Ryan, his concern and went home straight away, returning with gloves and bags to pick the litter.

Ethan’s mother Joanna Carvey said: “This is the second time he’s done this and he plans on doing it more.

“The rubbish was particularly bad because of the school holidays and obviously the council do what they can but it was really bad that day.

Gazette: Hard work - Ethan picking up rubbish in Thorpe Park.Hard work - Ethan picking up rubbish in Thorpe Park. (Image: Newsquest)

“I’m really grateful to his school, Tendring Primary School, they have a recycling scheme there so I think being environmentally aware is really embedded in him, even at such a young age.”

The Tendring Primary Recycle Scheme collects and sends items for recycling to fundraise for charities.

Items are collected through its network of drop off locations, before being transported to a central location for packaging and a final sending off.

The scheme is run by a small number of volunteers and has initiatives that are sponsored by Hovis and Walkers.

Joanna added: “Ethan is just a very active child in general, he goes to tennis twice a week, goes swimming and loves the outdoors, he even wants to get into skateboarding soon.

“He’s a quite independent boy that loves taking the initiative despite his age.

Gazette: Gathering - Ethan collecting rubbish in the park.Gathering - Ethan collecting rubbish in the park. (Image: Newsquest)

“In terms of the bins, I think they could be looked after better, maybe by having more bins or monitoring them more often.

“We understand the council gets pulled all over the place with different demands from residents but more can be done.”

Michael Talbot, Tendring councillor responsible for environment, praised the efforts of the litter pickers.

He said: “While we work hard to encourage people not to litter, sadly a minority of people do not take pride in their community and cause issues for good-minded citizens

“Our thanks go to all of the volunteer litter-picker groups which operate in our district – whom we can support by disposing of the waste they collect.”