TLC - Elizabeth: Caring For Wirral And The World

"Together We Can Make A Difference"

Elizabeth with her trusty sidekick, always there to help her!

We were thrilled to have a special guest presenter at the Zillo Youth Awards last Friday evening. Elizabeth Gadsdon is Wirral's very own young environmentalist who cares passionately for our planet.

Not only a long time dedicated litter picker, she also helps people learn how they can take care of their environment.

We are very excited to tell you that she is joining the Zillo Young Reporters to put the environment firmly on the Zillo agenda.

As 'TLC Elizabeth: Caring for Wirral and the World', she is determined to do everything she can to protect our natural world.

Elizabeth's Facebook page: TLC – Elizabeth: Caring for Wirral and the World has almost 6k followers and she is also active on Twitter: @TLCWirral and Instagram: @TLCElizabethWirral

Social Media helps promote awareness of the environmental issues facing us all today. Elizabeth firmly believes that “lots of little changes and actions can have a massive impact.” Every post can help people think about their own contribution to the environment crisis, and how they can make a change.

So how did this all start?

At the age of six Elizabeth saw someone throw litter out of their car window. This upset her so much that she asked her mum if she could go out and pick up litter. This continued on a regular basis, but she thought that if she was more visible it might make people think twice about dropping litter. One Hi-Viz vest later and 'The Little Collector' was born. A Facebook page was set up to share pictures of Elizabeth on her litter missions. Local and national firms began to offer help donating a litter picker, bags and buckets to support her in her work.

Elizabeth wanted other children to litter pick so she spoke to the rangers at Birkenhead Park. Litter picks happened on a monthly basis and as a result 'The Little Collector Crew' was formed. Children from all around the Wirral came along. Over the next couple of years around eighty children became part of the crew. Starting in Birkenhead Park the crew's patch soon increased to include areas that they cared about.

Sadly the pandemic put an end to these monthly meets, but some of the crew continued to do litter picks on their own.

Making an impact

Elizabeth raises awareness of the impact of litter as well as removing it from across Wirral.

Elizabeth also wanted to know where the rubbish came from, and over the last few years has met some wonderful people who taught her about sustainability, plastic pollution, and single use plastic. She wanted to use her reach to help other people understand the issues and how to do something about them.

Eco-fairs are one way that TLC gets messages out to people. Elizabeth also represents her school at conferences and runs workshops for younger children to learn about the issues.

Elizabeth has an amazing history of campaigning. Her first challenge was reducing single use plastic. At Christmas time in 2017 she talked to five local businesses about switching from plastic to paper straws. Not only did she talk to the managers of the cafes, bars and restaurants, but she also gave them gift wrapped presents of paper straws. All five made the change. Elizabeth continued with this strategy for Valentine’s Day, Easter, and the following Christmases, with great success. She only stopped when the UK eventually brought in the ban on plastic straws.

Elizabeth also uses her fame and dedication to raise money for charity.

By making and selling greetings cards decorated with micro-plastics collected from local beaches she has raised hundreds of pounds for the British Divers Marine Life Rescue and The Marine Conservation Society

At the age of just 10 years old, Elizabeth ran 8 miles on New Year’s Day and raised over £2000 for Claire House Children’s Hospice, and in October 2022 did a sponsored litter pick throughout her half term holidays to raise £521 for The Trussell Trust

Elizabeth has been recognised by Keep Britain Tidy and was their youngest ever Litter Hero in 2019. Elizabeth has been featured across many local and national television and radio stations, including BBC Newsround and Countryfile.

Elizabeth has also featured in the local and national press, helping to front campaigns such as the ‘Keep Britain Tidy Great British Spring Clean’. She has been wonderfully supported by Keep Britain Tidy and Eco Schools England, as well as lots of local and national business-people, and many other people from far and wide places such as Australia and the USA. She has even featured in books about environmental champions.

For the last few years Elizabeth has been invited as a group leader to the Northwest Sustainability Conference, representing her school and helping to deliver eco workshops and other activities to other children.

We were very grateful that Elizabeth agreed to present the Environmental Champion Award at last weeks Zillo Youth Awards. As a result of which we are even more excited that she has decided to become a Young Reporter. Thank-you Elizabeth for your time, commitment and dedication to our environment, YOU ARE INCREDIBLE and we are very proud that we can now say you are part of team Zillo.

If you know anyone who, like Elizabeth, would be interested in joining the Zillo Young Reporters please get in touch.