Karen Cannard of Bury St Edmunds has been nominated for a prestigious national MediaGuardian Innovation award. Karen's Rubbish Diet blog is one of just three short listed entries in the 'Independent Media' category.

Karen took part in St Edmundsbury Borough Council's zero waste challenge last March and would be the first to admit that when she embarked on her journey almost a year ago she was a novice in the recycling world. Since sharing her experiences via her Rubbish Diet blog Karen has been invited to speak on the subject of zero waste at several major conferences, including the East of England Regional Assembly's Community Action on Climate Change in December.

What began as a new year's resolution for an average household has led to a remarkable journey for the mother of two.

"The idea of a zero waste week initially seemed impossible for a family of four," says Karen "but I was committed to giving it a go".

"I set up the blog to document our challenge and chart our successes in reducing our household rubbish from what was an almost full wheelie bin each fortnight. As we changed our shopping habits to reduce packaging and took responsibility to recycle more, we soon realised that the amount of rubbish we threw out was all about choice. In Zero Waste Week last year, the only item we threw out to landfill was a plaster. Since then, it's settled at just one carrier bag of waste per month."

As well as being featured on BBC's Radio 4's Woman's Hour last year, The Rubbish Diet blog has become a talking point on the Internet and has acquired interest from local authorities, manufacturers, waste management companies, environmentalists and green bloggers.

"The motivation to continue the blog was drawn from my growing awareness of the impact of my rubbish on the environment. When I realised the pressures on Suffolk and the rest of the UK to find solutions to landfill, I was more determined to take responsibility to reduce the amount of rubbish my family created. I then shared my new ideas with my community of readers, from easy ways to remember reusable bags, to finding alternative products that reduce our dependency on packaging. The experience has been both practical and fun because at the end of the day it's not about living with less, it's simply about living with less waste."

"To have been shortlisted for such an amazing award has been positively overwhelming," says Karen, who insists she is an ordinary housewife who just enjoys writing about her experiences. "I hope that it will inspire other folk to take up the challenge themselves and discover how easy it is to slim their bins at home, even if it's just recycling one more thing.

Councillor Eddy Alcock, portfolio holder for environment and waste management said: "I was delighted to learn of Karen's nomination for this prestigious award. She is a wonderful role model and proof that simple changes can produce great results in an effort to reduce, reuse and recycle more of our waste. I wish Karen every success when the awards are announced".

Karen is currently writing a book called The Rubbish Diet and hopes to have it published later this year. In the meantime, you can keep up with her daily exploits at www.therubbishdiet.co.uk