Plastic pollution: Seven-year-old makes history at Scottish Parliament

A seven-year-old boy has become the youngest person to present a petition to the Scottish parliament.

Callum says he wants the Scottish government to replace disposable plastic bottles given to primary school pupils with reusable bottles.

He got support from Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) at Holyrood about the issue before meeting up with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.

Callum has been campaigning on the issue since early last year when he noticed that primary school children were being given disposable water bottles with their lunches.

The problem with plastic is that most of it isn't biodegradable - which means it doesn't break down once thrown away. Disposable water bottles are only used once before being chucked in the bin and going into landfill.

More than eight million tonnes of plastic enters the world's oceans each year and most of that escapes from land.

After contacting the head of his school, Callum wrote to the local council and managed to persuade them to make the disposable bottles optional.

He also walked 134 miles of the John Muir Way - a path that stretches from coast to coast across Scotland - to raise £1,400 to give every child in his school a reusable steel water bottle.

Callum completed the John Muir Way - a long walk in Scotland - to raise money for steel water bottles for children at his school

After making changes in his own school, Callum was determined to get rid of disposable plastic bottles in all primary schools in Scotland.

Speaking to the committee which deal with petitions from the public, he said: "I would like parliament to buy bottles please."

Committee Convenor Jackson Carlaw promised the MSPs would try to get the petition put through.

"Callum, thank you very much. It's been an absolute pleasure to have you in here. I hope you're going to have a great day going forward. We're going to take the petition forward and after you meet with the First Minister, we'll be asking her to honour whatever commitments you can get and see what we can do to put your petition into practice."