Watt a load of rubbish

For Look East presenter Susie Fowler-Watt and her husband reporter Alex Dunlop, the three Rs are a way of life.

The couple, who live in South Norfolk with their six month-old daughter Lola, try to minimise waste by only buying and preparing what they need – and by recycling as much as possible.

Suzie Fowler-Watt with daughter Lola, husband Alex, and two baby guinea fowl.

"We have a lot of magazines and newspapers and we recycle them all once we have finished with them," said Susie, 36. "Plastic bottles and cans can also be put out for kerbside collection and we take all our empty glass bottle and jars to the bottle bank."

Lola, who is just starting to eat solid food, has all her meals prepared from fresh ingredients. This is not only healthier for her but also reduces waste from empty baby food jars and tins.

In fact, the whole family believe in eating healthily – and the waste matter from preparing the large amounts of vegetables they eat goes straight into the compost bin.

"We keep a mini-compost bin in the kitchen which gets tipped into the large one out in the garden," explained Susie. "Alex then digs the compost into the flower beds in the garden."

Jacket potatoes and other vegetables cooked in their skins are often eaten and Alex frequently makes stock and soup from leftovers.

Other scraps of waste food are fed to the couple's four chickens who live at the end of the garden. They will eat pretty much any kitchen waste – except chicken of course!

"We also try to buy items that do not have too much packaging," Susie continued. "Alex was brought up in Africa where nothing is wasted and as much as possible is reused. He is therefore fanatical about not buying goods that have been over-packaged.

"We try to buy loose fruit and vegetables, for example."

With two cats, a dog, four chickens and four baby guinea fowl, Susie, Alex and Lola have a busy household and Christmas will be busier than ever. But even so they are determined to do what they can to reduce the amount of rubbish going to landfill sites.

"Christmas is a time when there is a lot of waste," said Susie. "We try to do our bit by reusing wrapping paper. We also make our own gift tags for Christmas presents."