Saving our world – and all that jazz

MOST householders complain if their bin is emptied once a fortnight, but Cate Cody, a 44-year-old mother, has no such worries.

She is so eco-friendly she puts her bins out once every two months, aiming for once every two years. She tries to buy everything without packaging and grows her own fruit and vegetables.

She even makes toothpaste and deodorant out of bicarbonate of soda and organic oils because she hates being left with tubes and bottles to throw away.

If she buys eggs or jam, she donates the boxes and jars to friends for reuse and wraps Christmas presents with scarves rather than paper.

What goes into in her household waste bin is milk bottle seals and the occasional bit of plastic packaging from food, usually brought over by friends.

Jazz singer Cody, a former Green Party candidate for Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, where she lives, said she has cared about the environment since childhood.

“Even when I was a kid I couldn’t bear to litter. I thought it was a weird thing to do,” she said.

She and her partner, double bassist John Day, 55, do put their recycling out, but only once every eight weeks.

“Instead of buying food, we’ve got apple and pear trees in the garden and we grow raspberries, gooseberries, blackcurrants, hazelnuts, tomatoes and beans.” “I’ll take Tupperware to the butchers and fishmongers and they put that on the scales and fill it up. I haven’t used plastic bags for nearly 10 years. We borrow things from friends or go to boot sales or second-hand shops. Obviously not underwear, but other clothes I will buy in charity shops.”The main thing is not buying things that we don’t need. There is nearly always an alternative.”

Cody boycotts firms she deems unethical and has given up coffee because the process of growing and making it uses a lot of water. She doesn’t eat beef because of the impact its production has on global warming.

She has a car for long journeys but gets around by bicycle.

“I’m astonished at how much waste people create. If everyone did what I was doing, it would have a massive impact.” – Daily Mail