Eleven-year-old Hunter Scott, of Maraekakaho, was praised by the Eastern District police for picking up rubbish while holidaying in Mahia. Photo / Facebook
Eleven-year-old Hunter Scott, of Maraekakaho, was praised by the Eastern District police for picking up rubbish while holidaying in Mahia. Photo / Facebook
A Hawke's Bay 11-year-old with a "big heart for nature" has been inundated with praise for his efforts to clean up Mahia while holidaying there.
Hunter Scott, of Maraekakaho, has spent much of his free time picking up rubbish while his family has been in town over Christmas and NewYear.
The tidy Kiwi told the Hawke's Bay Today that after he watched a diver's YouTube channel about the sort of things he found in the ocean, he decided to do something about it.
"I just pick up rubbish around the ditches. I just feel like people should stop dumping rubbish. It's damaging our environment and it's killing our animals and native wildlife."
He takes a large rubbish bag out with him whenever he gets a chance.
The amount and type of rubbish he picks up depends on the day, he said.
"New Year's Eve was pretty packed."
Hunter Scott hopes people will stop dumping rubbish and littering as it is bad for the environment. Photo / Supplied
Having done it for two to three years in Mahia now, he said the most interesting thing he had found was an iPhone which he managed to return to its owners.
"I'd like to see more people doing it," he said. "It gets a bit hard on your own with all the rubbish around Mahia and Hawke's Bay."
Hunter received heaps of postive feedback after a picture of him out collecting rubbish was widely shared on social media via the Eastern District Police.
He and mum Kate Scott were both blown away by the public's response.
"We can't quite get over it," she said, adding that Hunter regularly gets offered small rewards like ice cream or pocket change which he turns down.
"He gets offered so many things. Probably the nicest thing for him to see is that people really appreciate it."
She said while a lot of the things he found were simply rubbish he also found lots of interesting things like old glass bottles, some of which could be found in museums.
"If he's walking down the beach, he finds all sorts of things. They become quite precious to him, like little treasures."
A police spokesperson said they were looking at a reward for Hunter's awesome work, though what this would be was yet to be finalised.
"We think it's pretty cool that Hunter was doing this off his own bat and we want to recognise him for his awesome work and the great things he is doing for his community."
Wairoa mayor Craig Little also offered up praise to the youngster.
"I think it's a fantastic initiative. He's doing the hard yards."
He said Hunter was the type of kid people would listen to when it came to environmental matters.
Little said seeing rubbish dumped on the side of the road always made him "really grumpy".
He hoped more adults would follow Hunter's example, particularly freedom campers and other Mahia visitors who have caused the community problems in the past.
