My attempts to be eco-friendly have taken a bit of a battering since we moved. We were spoiled in Stirling - food waste collections that included cooked and non-vegetable food, tetrapaks could go in the normal recycling, everyone got a free compost bin when the council stopped collecting garden waste last winter - I knew it was probably better than most places, certainly it was better than Nottingham when I lived there, but I didn't know how little some places had moved on. The main differences here are no food waste collections, high cost of compost bins and no collection of tetrapaks.

The food waste is the easiest to deal with. I cook smaller portions, especially of 'filler' foods like rice, to minimise the risk of needing to bin any. I tip coffee grounds out in the garden - the epic spider webs on the bushes right now suggest that someone is benefiting from the extra caffeine. I'm experimenting with which peelings and withered vegetables can be made successfully into stock - it should save a bit of money if I don't need to buy cubes or powder.

The tetrapaks, however, are a pain in the arse. I think they annoy me more than anything else that goes in the bin because I'm used to recycling them. Also, the main thing we get in tetrapaks is soy milk - other things, like fruit juice or chopped tomatoes, can be found in other sorts of container if you look around a bit. I wish I was a bit more business-minded, because this strikes me as a massive gap in the market - I can't be the only vegan who wants to cut down on landfill! Of course, my ideal would be reusable glass bottles - hell, if I was setting this up I'd deliver and collect the stuff with a handcart or bike cart, but I know that wouldn't be feasible. But I do need to look into making some sort of plant milk for my own use. (Ducki is more a creature of habit, but I'm sure I can get him to try some - ideally I need it to be cheaper than buying cartons in to convince him it's a good idea)

In the meantime, I'm trying to do a bit of offsetting - getting greener in other parts of my life. More careful not to get in a situation that requires plastic bags. Loose rather than packaged veg where possible, and from local markets or greengrocers if I can get to those. We are at least better off on that front here. Not letting things get dirty enough to need nasty cleaning chemicals. (so far the exception has been limescale, I need to get to treating that with vinegar, but it caught me unawares moving from a soft water area so I bought some of the scary stuff to get started) Not buying stuff, although I've had a couple of wobbles with that lately. Small victories are still victories though.