HOW YOU GO CAN GREEN SAVE & CASH
She’s always impeccably dressed, but TV presenter Kate Thornton is proof that looking picture-perfect doesn’t need to cost a fortune – or the planet. The eco-minded mum enjoys renting dresses instead of buying them, is a fan of sustainable beauty products, and readily shares clothes with her celebrity pals.
“We all borrow from each other’s wardrobes for events,” Kate, 47, tells Closer. “Tamzin Outhwaite wore my pea-green Roland Mouret dress for the Olivier Awards once. She’s the fourth person to borrow it, and it looked brilliant on her.
“I try to be as sustainable as possible with fashion – we can’t keep clogging up the planet. I rent pieces too, which is great because those garments have a story.”
But Kate isn’t just sustainablyminded when it comes to style. She’s also a fan of eco-friendly beauty products. She says, “Tamzin recommended Lisa Armitage skincare products, which come in recyclable glass bottles. They’re made from natural products and are really good for my eczema. I’ve also started using a reusable cleansing cloth by Donna May London – it takes off all your make-up and you can bung it into the washing machine.”
Like many of us, Kate took to decluttering during lockdown, and she’s encouraging us all to recycle, sell or donate any unused electricals to a good cause.
“I never throw anything away, I donate it all to charity,” she says. “I declutter as a way of life. And I flipping love cleaning – if it was an Olympic sport, I’d represent Great Britain. It’s like my therapy. Unless a piece of clothing has emotional relevance, if I haven’t worn it for two years it has to go. I do a rota of my local charity shops, and I currently have eight bags ready and waiting for when they can reopen!”
“I’m so conscious of not adding to landfill. I recently turfed out my ‘man drawers’, which were stuffed full of cables. I had two, ten-year-old laptops, so I had them wiped clean and they were donated to families who didn’t have any devices for home learning. We can all help each other by emptying our cupboards and doing something charitable.”
While we’re in lockdown,
Kate is busy homeschooling
Ben, her 12-year-old son with ex Darren Emerson. And she readily admits that being a mum has also made her far more eco-aware.
“Kids today have a far greater sense of social conscience,” she says. “They are way more communityminded than I was at that age, and I’ve learnt from that.
“As a school, we make regular donations to the food banks and, of course, at home we recycle all our food compost, plastics and cardboard. Children are so disapproving if you don’t! Being a mum makes me much more mindful about the future of our planet.”
● The Recycle Your Electricals “Give Back January” campaign is designed to encourage us all to do something useful with old and redundant electricals we find ourselves with following Black Friday and Christmas. Visit Recycleyourelectricals.org.uk