One of the most useful New Year resolutions Bradford people could have made is to recycle more of the vast amount of waste we produce. This time of year, following the Christmas and New Year excesses of consumerism, is as good a time as any to start thinking more seriously about the way we as individuals deal with all the wrappers and packaging, the greetings cards, cans, bottles and Christmas trees we need to dispose of.

All the year round many of us throw away countless items which could be recycled rather than binned to be carted off to expensive landfill sites. After Christmas the tonnage is massive. It has been estimated that the amount of wrapping paper alone thrown away in Bradford would cover more than eight square miles. The more we recycle, the less the Council needs to spend on taking away and burying all this material and the more the environment generally will benefit.

It is disappointing that although more than half the waste we produce could be recycled, 90 per cent still goes to landfill. This is despite the widespread distribution of special bins for newspapers, bottles and cans.

More needs to be done to encourage more people to think in recycling terms. The seasonal campaign by Bradford Council's recycling bosses is a determined effort to change attitudes. Let's hope it succeeds in making substantial inroads not only into this Christmas's mountain of waste but also into the amount we thoughtlessly throw away all the year round.