Young boy awarded for tackling the rubbish on our beaches

Dubbed a “little litter hero” 5-year-old Charlie Hamilton-Cooper spends his spare time cleaning rubbish off beaches across Northern Ireland.

The young boy from Crossgar has taken part in 24 organised beach clean-ups and often asks his mum and dad if he can head out with his litter picker, that he has nicknamed “Velociraptor”, at the weekend.

Alarmingly during his trips to the coast Charlie has come across live flares and prescription drugs. On one occasion he found nearly 100 fisherman’s gloves, and on another he picked up 50 bags of dog dirt.

Charlie first became interested in the environment after he over-heard his parents discussing an article they had seen on plastic.

His father, Jonathan Hamilton-Cooper, says Charlie is very concerned about the animals in the sea.

“He came into the room one day and I was talking with his mum about the plastic in the sea in an article we saw and he took a great interest in it. He was really concerned about the fish and the animals, that the plastic is basically harming in his eyes, so he wanted to do something about it.”

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Charlie has become well-known locally for his dedication to cleaning up the state of our coastlines and he feels it’s time well-spent.

Asked why he wants to tackle the rubbish he explained, “Because all the animals might be killed. Turtles might be in the water and eat balloons and they think it’s jellyfish, but it’s actually balloons.”

This week Charlie was the youngest to be honoured at the Live Here Love Here Community Awards in Belfast, winning the Newry Mourne and Down Litter Heroes Award and a Special Volunteer Champion Award for all his work.

He has taken part in 24 beach cleans across 11 different locations.

There were 14 award winners aged between 5 and 77, celebrating work such as litter picks and community involvement projects.