Author uses art to declare war on plastic polluting our seas

To begin with she was no different from countless other dog owners out on a seafront stroll.

But then she started to notice the vast amounts of plastic litter along the shoreline.

Now she is a woman with a mission - to help save the planet.

"I moved back to the area seven years ago," said the award-winning children's author.

"About three years ago I started walking along the beach and picking up nice things like sea glass.

"Now I take carrier bags to pick up the plastic.

"There is a lot of it. It varies day to day and tide to tide. A lot is dropped by people walking along the promenade or beach.

"Some fishermen leave lines and nets, and a lot is washed up by the tide."

She would like to see a ban on helium balloons being set off.

"Often they are tributes to people but then the balloon ends up in the sea and some poor turtle is going to die because they confuse them with a jellyfish," said Wendy.

"I also pick up a lot of cotton bud sticks which people just flush down the toilet and there are an awful lot of plastic lids and straws."

Wendy was horrified when she read about marine biologists in Costa Rica who discovered an endangered sea turtle with a plastic straw lodged in its nostril.

She has started to turn the litter into art with an environmental message to raise awareness of the growing problem.

Next year she hopes to create a community artwork inspired by waste plastic.

"I have reached the point where I take home most of the plastic I find on the beach, wash it and make art from it," she said.

• Cry Across the Ocean, by Wendy Constance

"I'm trying to get the message across because most people have no idea of the damage it causes.

"They say 90 per cent of sea birds have ingested some sort of plastic."

Some of her work is being shown at the Coastal Open exhibition at Jaywick's Martello Tower.

Wendy also takes part in local beach cleans held by the Marine Conservation Society.

"It is an absolutely huge problem everywhere, locally, nationally and globally ," she added.

"If you walk around Clacton and see litter in the streets, a lot of that will end up being blown out to sea.

"We are not reusing plastic, we are not recycling it - we are just churning out more and more.

"When whales, porpoises and dolphins get washed up they find their stomachs are full of plastic and they have died of malnutrition.

"Most people are totally ignorant of what they are doing.

"But it's never too late and I am trying to get the message out there."