Queen of green who only has to put bin out once every two years!
MOST householders complain if their bin is emptied only once a fortnight.
But Cate Cody has no such worries. She is so eco-friendly she puts her bins out once every two years. The 44-year-old mother 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.
All that goes into in her household waste bin are milk bottle seals and the occasional bit of plastic packaging from food, usually brought over by friends.
Jazz singer Miss 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, aim to go two years without putting the household waste bin out. They 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 ourselves,’ Miss Cody said.
‘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 ten 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. I still wear things I got 20 years ago.
‘The main thing is not buying things that we don’t need. There is nearly always an alternative.’ Miss 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.
‘We do have a washing machine but we haven’t got a dishwasher or anything like that. I haven’t had a TV for at least 13 years,’ she said. ‘I’m astonished at how much waste people create. If everyone did what I’m doing, it would have a massive impact.’