MOTHER-of-three Liz Murphy was so appalled at the plight of a whale which died after ingesting a huge amount of plastic that she vowed to take action against the increasingly devastating wide-scale use of the material.

Liz, 51, began by boycotting products wrapped in plastic but has now taken her campaign further by selling high quality bamboo toothbrushes as an alternative to the traditional plastic variety.

She believes her Wake Up To Plastic brushes will contribute towards weaning people away from plastic products and packaging that clog the environment and can have a disastrous effect on wildlife.

Liz, who moved to Swindon from Ireland 32 years ago, said: “Our wonderful blue planet will eventually become a plastic planet unless we act now. We have to look to alternatives to plastic in our daily lives.”

She had been aware of plastic pollution for some time but unaware of its sheer scale until watching a TV programme called Plastic Ocean six months ago.

Liz, of Central Swindon, said “It showed a dead whale that had been washed up in Norway. When they opened it they found it was full of plastic.”

She went on. “I felt so ashamed that this stunning creature had died in such a cruel manner because of needless plastic waste.

“There and then I decided that I was going to do something.”

She swiftly resolved to stop using plastic. “Somewhat naively I thought this would be pretty straight forward. How wrong was that - the stuff is everywhere.”

Her routine trawl around the supermarket became a daily challenge. ”What used to be a five minute stroll around the aisles now takes much longer because there are so little alternatives for the consumer.”

Liz then decided to do more to combat the plastic menace. “I thought long and hard. The idea of toothbrushes came to me while I was in the bathroom and noticed six plastic ones staring up at me.

“Why, I thought, do we need plastic toothbrushes when there was surely a viable alternative?”

She investigated toothbrushes that were biodegradable - capable of being decomposed by bacteria or other living organisms and thereby avoiding pollution.

“It took a while to source the right one but I finally got there.” She found a manufacturer in China who creates plant-based bamboo toothbrushes with bristles made of ‘nylon four,’ which takes three months to breakdown.

“I’m really thrilled with them,” said Liz, after taking delivery of her first batch.

Her product is packaged in a recyclable cardboard box that contains four brushes and displays her own whale logo along with the mission statement: “We strive to rid our seas of plastic - make a difference with your toothbrush.”

She went on: “We cannot escape the consequences of throwing away vast quantities of plastic that can take hundreds of years to break down.

“It’s incredible that all of this plastic will still be here long after we are gone and it’s our children and their children that will suffer – not to mention the environment and wildlife as a whole.

"Hardly a great legacy to leave behind...”

*The brushes are priced £11.95 including post and packaging. Liz can be contacted through her Wake Up To Plastic Facebook page, texted at 07585817676 (correct) or emailed at liz.bamboozled@gmail.com