A SCULPTURE of a seal made from rubbish found on Walton beach has been unveiled at the town’s Naze Centre.

The life-size sculpture of the seal and her pup was made from rubbish cleared from the beach over six months.

Poly the seal - named after polystyrene - has been made by local artist Sue Lynas for the Essex Wildlife Trust, which runs the centre.

The centre said a a number of seals have been rescued along the coast after becoming trapped in plastic waste.

The initiative came after the Colne Community School in Brightlingsea, inspired by BBC’s Blue Planet 2, raised money for new beach clean equipment for the trust allowing regular beach cleans to take place.

Christine Berton, site manager at the Naze Centre, said: “It was a great day to talk about marine wildlife and the issues faced by the wildlife.

“One of those problems is plastic on the beach, which is why we have done the sculpture to highlight how much rubbish can be found here. Even when people walk on the beach and it looks clean, if you look closer you will find it. We have a lot of microplastics.

“I would like to thank all the volunteers who helped on Saturday and those who come for our monthly beach clean - they are really making a difference.”

Mrs Berton added that since receiving the beach clean equipment, the dedicated staff and volunteers have been braving the weather all year long to collect rubbish found along the Naze and nearby Essex Wildlife Trust nature reserves.

She added: “Our beach cleans have revealed an array of common items, many of these include household products that we can all avoid such as cotton bud sticks and sanitary items that have been flushed down the loo along with items abandoned on beaches including crisp packets, sweet wrappers, plastic bags, plastic bottles and balloons.

“The rubbish from these clean up events was cleaned and stored, ready for transformation.

The final transformation was revealed at The Naze Centre’s Marine Wildlife Celebration Day on Saturday.

For more information about the Naze Centre’s Marine Month, call 01255 679379.