WATCH: Plastic, sewage and vapes seen floating in dirty river

By Barney Riley via SWNS

An environmental activist has highlighted the shocking amount of sewage and plastic waste in a UK river - including vapes.

The green influencer has found sewage, plastic and even discarded e-cigarettes in parts of the River Calder in West Yorkshire.

Elliot Barr, 30, a full-time fuel safety officer and volunteer environmental activist said: "Our rivers are under immense pressure from a number of different sources.

"There are multiple sources that contaminate our precious rivers, from normal people littering in day-to-day life, waste dumping directly into the rivers.

"For example, flytipping, agricultural runoff and raw sewage dumping into the rivers."

A video shows Elliot along the River Calder in Ossett and Wakefield city center and on the Horbury Weir.

Elliot, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, said: "Disposable E-cigarettes are a menace.

''The lithium-ion batteries destabilize and leach huge amounts of highly toxic chemicals into the ecosystem.

"And seemingly the younger generation are the main culprits of irresponsible disposal.

''I have even seen electric scooters being thrown into the rivers.

"Raw sewage dumping is a huge issue because of the release of unfiltered waste which leaves the environment to the mercy of feces, urine, wipes, fats/oils, and detergents."

Elliot spends most of his spare time clearing up rubbish that washes up on the River Calder with the voluntary environmental organization he founded.

He said: "I am walking embankments of rivers removing what I can and trying to highlight the impact we are having directly from the river so it cannot be denied.

"I do this so that more people can see what is happening because not everyone gets the chance to see these areas."

He regularly posts his findings on social media to bring to light the scale of the problem facing the country's waterways.

Elliot describes himself as an environmental activist and believes that it is everybody's duty to clean up the planet in any way they can.

He said: "Even the smallest actions have a ripple effect, simply putting waste in the correct bin prevents it from entering nature.

"If 1 million people stopped dropping litter, it is 1 million less items in nature. Simple."

Elliot has been cleaning up the rivers for the past five years and only recently started to post online.

His work is done to help the planet and he hopes to inspire more people to do their bit.

Elliot said: "I hope through my work we can start to make real change both by actively removing waste from the rivers and through our social media outlets where we hope to show the UK population what we all must do to make positive changes."