A woman from Bury St Edmunds has been nominated for a national award for her work fighting climate change.

Karen Cannard will attend the awards ceremony in Westminster on Tuesday after making the final three in the Community Hero category for The Climate Coaliton’s Green Heart Hero Awards.

She was nominated for recognition of the work she has done as founder of The Rubbish Diet – a challenge set for families to reduce the amount of household waste they produce.

Since ther project’s conception, participants have saved over 1,786 tonnes of waste from landfill and £349,000 between them.

Ms Cannard is also a trustee of ReusefulUK and Sustainable Bury.

Ms Cannard said: “It was a wonderful surprise to discover that I’d been nominated for an award. The work of The Climate Coalition is inspirational and it is amazing to have been recognised by the judges.

“The impact of climate change is the issue of our generation that affects us all and the environment around us - no matter where we live. What we buy, how we care for it and how we dispose of it is one way in which we can all help – switching from disposables to reusables, repairing instead of replacing and also recycling what’s left all contribute to reducing our carbon footprint.

“I’m really looking forward to the Awards ceremony at Speaker’s House in Parliament - it’s such a rare and incredible opportunity, and what a time to be there too, when there is such a loud voice within Parliament itself to reduce its single-use plastic waste.”

The Green Heart Hero Awards are run by The Climate Coalition – a group of more than 130 organisations representing over 15 million people ranging from groups such as the Women’s Institute and the Woodland Trust, trade unions such as Unison, and aid agencies such as CAFOD.

Clara Goldsmith from The Climate Coalition said:

“It’s fantastic to see the work that individuals such as Karen are doing to protect the things we love from climate change.

“The people who have been nominated are just normal people who decided that they wanted to make a difference and help change the world – and they have achieved extraordinary things.

“We are really glad to have the chance to celebrate at Parliament the great work people across the country are doing.”