The Archbishop of Canterbury will aim to capture the spirit of the age in his new year message by giving his speech an environmental theme.

Dr Rowan Williams will say that God “does not do waste” in his thought for the start of 2008 that will be available to watch on the video-sharing website YouTube.

The film, in which Dr Williams challenges “disposable” attitudes to things and relationships, was shot at a recycling centre and Canterbury Cathedral.

The Archbishop is one step behind the Queen, whose Christmas Day message was posted on YouTube for the first time this year on a dedicated Royal Channel, and has been viewed 687,952 times so far.

Dr Williams has published messages on YouTube before on his Lambeth Palace channel, but this is the first new year message the religious leader has published on YouTube.

The Archbishop, who drives a hybrid electric-petrol car, will warn that exploitation of the Earth’s resources for short-term gain produces fantastic quantities of waste and has implications for other areas of life.

“In a society where we think of so many things as disposable, where we expect to be constantly discarding last year’s gadget and replacing it with this year’s model - do we end up tempted to think of people and relationships as disposable?” he said.

“Are we so fixated on keeping up with change that we lose any sense of our need for stability?”

The Archbishop will say that the need for a sustainable approach goes hand in hand with a belief in God.

“A lot of the time, we just don’t let ourselves think about the future with realism. A culture of vast material waste and emotional short-termism is a culture that is a lot more fragile than it knows. How much investment are we going to put in towards a safer and more balanced future?”

He went on to say that God “does not do waste” and does not regard human life as disposable.

“He doesn’t regard anyone as a ’waste of space’, as not worth his time - from the very beginnings of life to its end, whether they are successful, articulate, productive or not,” he said. “And so a life that communicates a bit of what God is like is a life that doesn’t give up, that doesn’t settle down with a culture of waste and disposability - whether with people, or with things.”

Rev Jonathan Jennings, a spokesman for the Archbishop, said that the video was likely to be available to the public on YouTube tomorrow. The Lambeth Palace channel, launched in March this year, has so far been viewed 1,771 times.

Before its YouTube appearance, the message will be broadcast on BBC2 at 2030 GMT today and again on BBC1 at noon on New Year’s Day.