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If you gaze in despair at the bin bags building up outside your house each week, Antonia Chitty has some tips for you.

In just one hour the UK produces enough rubbish to fill Albert Hall. Incineration and landfill cause pollution, so look at ways you can reduce the amount of waste the family produces, reuse things and recycle. There's also pressure from councils for people to cut down the amount of rubbish they produce nowadays.

For young families, nappies are one of the biggest sources of rubbish - why not find out about cloth nappies. You can opt to wash them yourself or choose a nappy laundry service. Modern cloth nappies come in a wide range of shapes and are easy to use.

Try to buy fruit and veg loose - they can work out cheaper this way too, and you don't get so much unnecessary packaging. If you find trips to the supermarket a hassle, try to keep space in the freezer for staples like bread and milk. By doing one big shop and freezing some things you can cut the number of trips you need to make which will save time, money and petrol.

Some supermarkets will now recycle plastic bags if you return them, but it is even better to reduce the number of bags you use. If you used string bags instead of 12 carrier bags a week, you'd reduce carbon dioxide emissions from manufacturing the bags by 600kg per year - the same amount as a car releases when it's used for four weeks.

Another way to reduce packaging is to buy large packs of crisps, instead of small individual packets inside a multipack - it's quick and easy to put some in a reusable plastic box for the kids lunches.

You can have fun with the children preparing for pack lunches. At the weekend, why not have a 'baking hour' when you and the kids make some cakes or biscuits to go in their lunchboxes throughout the week. It's cheaper than buying biscuits, and you'll cut down on the amount of rubbish going in the bin.

If you find you are using lots of kitchen foil or baking parchment, buy a reusable baking sheet. They can be used to line the grill or a cake tin, and then washed and used again time after time.

Moving from kitchen to garden, composting is another way to cut down on the amount of waste that goes in the bin; many local councils now offer cheap compost bins. Have a lidded bucket in the kitchen and slip in fruit and veg peelings, then empty them into a compost bin in the garden every few days. Layer grass clippings, kitchen waste and even old newspapers and cardboard. You may need to water the compost slightly if it seems dry.

Waste paper is a significant part of the landfill problem: the amount of waste paper buried each year would fill 103,448 double decker buses. To reduce the amount of paper that gets thrown away, reuse envelopes by adding reuse stickers. Get the kids to use the back of old letters for drawing paper too. A forest the size of Wales is cut down each year to supply the paper to feed the UK's junk mail habit. Write to the mailing preference service Mailing Preference Service www.dma.org.uk, which will stop 95% of the junk mail you currently receive.

Although the recycling process uses energy and water, it usually isn't as much as making a product from scratch. Recycling also cuts down on raw materials having to be extracted from the earth's resources. In the UK we recycle about 25% of the paper we use, compared with around 60% for the best country in Europe. If the UK recycled 60% of the paper used in 1997, 8 million fewer trees would be cut down each year. There's only so much point in recycling if nobody buys recycled products. It can cost more, but the price will come down as demand increases.

Newspapers, magazines, glass bottles, cans and textiles can be recycled.  Plastic is used as packaging because it is so light and cheap. But, because there are hundreds of different types, it is often difficult to recycle. If you can't recycle it at a place near you, the try and buy less of it - not an easy task but it can make a difference. Even spectacles can be reused. Many optometrists collect spectacles for Vision Aid Overseas (VAO) - a charity that sorts old spectacles then sends them out to be used in developing countries.

According to a recent survey, of the 40 million mobile phones that have been sold in the UK, only 20 million are in use. So where are they all? Some are gathering dust in drawers but others are being thrown away and end up in landfill sites. Not only is this a waste but also very polluting as the phones contain a cocktail of toxic materials. A number of charities recycle unwanted mobiles and their accessories, as well as inkjet and laser cartridges from printers. Computer Aid International refurbishes old pcs and redistributes them in the third world. http://www.computeraid.org/

We fill about 300 million square metres of land with rubbish every year, that’s the same as covering the pitch at Old Trafford, Manchester United Football Club’s ground, 28,450 times.  So, this year, will you start composting, or take your own bags to the supermarket? What ever you do, you’ll know it will make this planet a better place for the kids to grow up.

Antonia Chitty is an experienced and versatile communications specialist. She has published articles in a range of consumer and trade titles, and runs a PR agency for small and creative businesses. www.acpr.co.uk

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