Girl, 6, clears river of ‘disgusting’ litter
A DERBYSHIRE beauty spot was left covered in “disgusting” litter on the county’s hottest day on record.
Rubbish was dumped in the river at Dovedale and also found near the stepping stones at the popular Peak District destination.
Six-year-old Moli Flanagan was left “very upset” by the amount of litter left behind in the River Dove when she visited with dad Will on Monday afternoon.
The young girl had hoped to enjoy an after-school paddle along the river, but ended up taking it upon herself to pick up the rubbish.
Along with her dad, the pair filled two plastic carrier bags full of waste.
Will said: “We could have filled another ten bags. It was disgusting to see how many people were dropping their litter in the river.
“One other couple were also picking up litter and had filled a bag.
“One man with a picnic basket came up to us and tried to put his litter in Moli’s bag. I said ‘we’re not a rubbish collection service – why don’t you take it home with you?’
“We found a couple of shoes, crisp packets, Coca-Cola, Fruit Shoot and water bottles. All the bins in the area were overflowing too.
“I’m proud of where we live, but it was disgusting to see so many people just dropping their litter in the river.
“We came down here for a paddle in the river after school. Moli was very upset by what she saw so I said ‘why don’t you do something about it?’ and she immediately started picking up the rubbish. She’s asked to come back after school tomorrow afternoon too to carry on collecting more rubbish.”
Moli said: “I wanted to save the animals, so we went in the river and we got all this trash.
“Animals are part of nature and nature helps you breathe, and also humans wouldn’t be a thing if nature wasn’t a thing, so we need to help these animals.”