Incredible litter picking family clear 13 tonnes of rubbish from their city

A litter picking family have helped clear 13 tonnes of rubbish from their city.

Dad Mike Scotland, 32 began picking up rubbish to help his mental health. And now his whole family now use litter-picking to spend quality time together - while helping their community. Mike began his litter-picking after experiencing challenges with his mental health during his 20s.

After struggling for some time, Mike found himself by the bank of the River Don in his hometown of Aberdeen, surrounded by litter and ready to take his own life. Thankfully, his mind was changed - but whenever Mike would pass the river, the rubbish would serve as a reminder of that dark day.

Mike decided to take matters into his own hands - and his love of litter-picking began. "About five years ago, I was in a really dark place, and I was about to take my own life at a riverside," said Mike. "It was a known dumping ground in Aberdeen. I was saved by a phone call that stopped me there and then - but after that, whenever I'd walk past that area where I'd wanted to end my life, I felt like a dark shadow was haunting me.

Mike Scotland and his litter loathing friends

"One day, I took three black bags and went down to the riverside and just started picking up litter. There was a person on a bike that stopped me and asked me what I was doing. I told him I was litter picking and he asked if I wanted a hand.

"He ended up parking his bike, and me and this guy ended up spending the next couple of hours picking up litter together and having the most open and honest chats about anything and everything. We collected about three full black bags of litter, and before I headed home, I told him I was going to start a litter picking group."

True to his word, the next day, Mike started the Community Clean Up group - and over the next few months, the group gathered weekly to clear the river of rubbish. The group collected over 13,500kg of litter from the riverbanks, and a whopping 2,500kg of metal from the river itself.

Mike Scotland and his son Lucio

"I ended up running a litter pick that weekend," said Mike. "There were about four to six people that showed up, but we ended up cleaning up over 300kg of litter over a couple of hours. We ran the litter picking again the following weekend ten people showed up and we removed 600kg.

"We removed 2,500kg of metal from the river itself and actually saw otters swim upstream for the first time in 40 years. We transformed that whole area as a community we gave it life again." Mike, now a father of three - Lucio, five, Milana, three, and 10-month-old Lexi - says the whole family now litter-pick regularly.

Son Lucio - who picked up his first piece of rubbish at one-year-old - has even helped his dad organise a mass beach clean after Storm Babet in 2023. "I remember taking my son to the park when he was 18 months old, and he spotted an empty bottle of Lucozade and even then, he went and picked it up and put it in the bin," said Mike.

Mike and Nikki with children Lucio and Milana

"Ever since then, he's always done litter picking. One of the things we used to do as father and son was go out dressed as Batman and 'fight the litter'. It's a great way to get him outside and teach him about the environment. Last year, my son and I had been on a boys' day out to the local arcade beside the beach front, and we went for a walk on the beach.

"It was after Storm Babet, and the amount of litter that was there I'd never seen anything like it, it was horrific. My son couldn't understand why people were just walking past it, and he really wanted to help clean it up. He asked if I could find people to help us, so I went on Facebook and did a live video showing everyone the mess that was down there, and I asked for help.

"Within about 45 minutes, there were 25 people who'd come down to help. But that only touched the surface, so Lucio asked if I could do an event for cleaning it up. I spent the next couple of weeks setting up an event and speaking to the local media, and around 350 people showed up. It was a pretty cold morning, and we removed over 400 bags of rubbish.

"It was really uplifting to see that there's a lot of people out there that want to do good but they maybe just don't know how to do it or don't have many opportunities." Mike and his partner Nikki, 33, now have a collection of over 100 litter pickers, which they loan out to groups keen to do their own clean-ups.

Mike and Nikki Scotland and their litter loathing family

Mike says he couldn't be prouder of his children for the work they've done - and says they give him hope for the future. "If there's any rubbish, it's second nature to them now to pick it up and put it in the bin," said Mike. "For me, as a parent, it's really uplifting to see them excited to make a difference.

"Their mindset is focused on doing a good thing for the right reasons they're not doing it for attention or praise, they're doing it because it's the right thing to do. I know sometimes the older generation blame the younger people as if it's their fault but some of the litter I've picked up is from the 1960s.

"Over time, I want to try and get as much litter picking equipment as I can to try and get everyone in Aberdeen doing it to some extent. Littering isn't anything new, but the way we approach it and tackle it has to be new, because the old way hasn't been working.

"Over time, it should hopefully reduce the amount of people littering in the first place. It's a long goal I don't know if I'll achieve it in my lifetime, but I'll certainly try my best."