AN eco-conscious campaigner says he is “disappointed” to see his hard work being undone after finding several bags of rubbish dumped on a beach.

Nigel Whitehouse, 45, from Jaywick, is the founder of non-profit group Wildlife Defenders, which strives to protect nature from litter and certain human behaviour.

The waste vigilante often embarks on patrols of his local area with his autistic daughter Ruby, 11, bagging up everything from cans to plastic bottles.

Just last summer, for example, the inspiring pair astonishingly collected more than 1000 pieces of rubbish which they then crushed down and recycled.

But despite his efforts to keep the seaside village clean and free of stray refuse, some residents are continuing to contribute to the wider problem.

“Someone has dumped bags over the beach wall, and I am disappointed to be honest,” he says.

“All of our hard work is paying off on the streets, but now the beach is being destroyed and damaged.

"We are tackling the street rubbish, but can only do so much ourselves."

“Some people think it is okay to destroy Jaywick’s lovely beach.

“Clearly the CCTV isn’t working because so much of this seems to be going on, without anyone being seen or caught.”

Since Tendring Council’s wheelie bin initiative was rolled out, there appears to have been a rise in residents using private companies to dispose of their bagged waste.

But the problem this, according to Mr Whitehouse, is people do not truly know where their rubbish is actually going and therefore need to take more responsibility.

He said: “I have reported this to the right people, so hopefully, if anything is found, so will the ones who have done this.

“This is not a street bin issue. Everyone who pays cowboys to move their rubbish are to blame for fly-tipping.

“People need to stop paying people who are not registered to remove waste as they can be fined for it even if it’s not their fault.

"It is an on going problem and it is not just Jaywick, but to be fair I’ve never seen the problem go onto the beach.

"There are a lot of good people in Jaywick and this spoils it for them.

“I will keep going to the beach to see if it continues.”