“The UK is quite clean in comparison” claims Kathryn Bland, a young conservationist, who has returned to Weymouth after four months of travelling in Fiji, New Zealand and Bali.

22-year-old Kathryn, who is from the town, runs Plastic Pollution Solution, a campaign to raise awareness of the impact of plastic on the natural world.

During her trip abroad she took part in a number of beach cleans, collecting bottles, plastic cups, polystyrene and carrier bags.

Kathryn said: “I went away for four months to see what other countries are doing with their plastic and how they are tackling the issue.

“I visited Fiji first. I didn’t expect it to be as bad as it was. I found so many Fiji Water bottles and lots of carrier bags.

“It’s very hard to go plastic free there. I didn’t think it would be that bad.”

Kathryn then visited New Zealand which she said is taking positive steps to reduce its plastic consumption.

She told the Echo: “I went there because my brother lives out there. It was incredibly clean, they have great system. I didn’t see anything that stood out. In terms of the fruit and veg aisle in supermarkets, it was a naked system. You don’t get plastic wrapped fruit. They offer eco bags rather than using plastic, which was really good as well.”

She said she tried to complete a few beach cleans, but wasn’t able to fill up a single bag, because most of the beaches are immaculate.

However, she said the level of plastic pollution in Bali is a very different picture.

Kathryn explained: “I had heard about how bad it is, so I wanted to see for myself what was going on.

“Tourists and locals both have a complete disregard for the impact of plastic. Everything is individually wrapped, even the bananas in the supermarkets.

“Despite what we’re shown on the news, tourists are still going out there and buying plastic bottles and carrier bags because they're so accessible.”

She said her and her partner visited a landfill site in Bali to see what happens to the rubbish.

“Anyone can go there, but most tourists don't include it on their list of places to visit. It was terrible we saw a cattle, which was grazing at the top and it was looking for some organic material. It had a black bin-bag around its face.

“There was also a day-old calf lying on broken glass bottles making weird noises. It was really sad to see an animal raised on this.”

She also said bean bags are quite common on beaches, and as a result lots of polystyrene balls are littered across the sand and into the ocean.

Kathryn said: “When animals swallow plastics like this then it becomes a problem because their enzymes won’t break it down, it stays in their stomach. An animal may be hungry, but they won’t be able to eat because their stomach is full of plastic.”

Discussing the situation in the UK, she said: "The UK is quite clean in comparison. We're trying to be proactive to stop plastic pollution.

"The government recently passed a ban on single use cotton buds, stirrers and straws. We are trying to change things here, but in Bali there's no system or recycling, it would be a push to find a bin there.

"We still need to improve on things and ban single use plastics. I'm not saying plastic is always a bad thing, it can be helpful in many instances like medicine, but at the same time it can be destructive if used for single use, that's my hate. There's no need for it."

She added: "I went out there mainly to show my social media following what's happening. It's easy to see someone for example on the BBC saying how bad plastic pollution is, but if it's someone you know, it hits home."