Bradford could become Britain's "green" capital as the man who would like to see disposable nappies ditched by parents steps into a top environment job.

Former headteacher Keith Thomson has been appointed chairman of the Council's environment scrutiny committee, with eco-friendly issues high on the agenda.

He hit the headlines two years ago when he urged the district's hordes of tea drinkers to put the bags on their compost heaps, rather than throw them in the rubbish bin.

He estimates one million tea bags are used across the district a day, but when they are buried on landfill sites they produce methane gas which damages the environment.

The reusable nappies scheme is now going strong in Keighley, where parents are using terry nappies instead of disposable ones.

There are now plans to extend the scheme across the district to save the Council thousands of pounds in landfill tax.

And the latest message from the councillor is that it is better to use a manual lawn mower than an electric one. He also says electric toothbrushes are a "nonsense".

Coun Thomson was responsible for the introduction of wheelie bins to the district - complete with gold coloured coats of arms.

The provision of a second wheelie bin for recycling items is being expanded following a successful pilot scheme in Baildon.

He said today that the recent flooding and extreme weather had been caused by global warming, through which heat from the sun cannot bounce back off the earth because of the layer of partly man-made gasses around the planet.

He added that the worst pollutants included carbon dioxide created by burning, wood, oil and gas, nitrous oxides, or methane, which came from buried tea bags.

Coun Thomson said the remit of the committee was to ensure that the environmental strategies adopted by both the Government and the Council were carried out, with transport and traffic congestion among the key issues.

"There is a lot of good practice within the Council but everybody should get the message," he said.

Executive committee member for the environment Councillor Anne Hawkesworth said: "He has some interesting ideas and some of them I agree with. But some of them I totally do not agree with. I think it is going to be an interesting year."