12 Jan 06 - Eco-battles with Tesco 6.30am Using less after-shave lotion has exactly the same effect on the face as using more. The bottle does not make it easy to put tiny amounts on my face, but I could always get one of those soft plastic bottles with a 'squeezy' lid. 8.00 Arrived at the office minus my green tea so was forced by addiction to purchase a cappuchino in the cafeteria. One more disposable cup for the landfill! In theory I could re-use the cup for several days, say for drinking water, but in practise the pressure of work means I'll be picking up at least some more for one reason or another. Usually because I'll forget to bring the cup with me. And the cafeteria will give me a new disposable cup with every drink. Mental note to bring the cup with me and ask them to refill it. 13 Jan 06: Popped into the chemist for a contact lens case, remembered to politely refuse the bag that was being used to house the case (although of course the bags get recycled in our house as bin liners, or to put the used cat litter in. While on the subject, is the organic wood-chip cat litter worth using? It's fully biodegradable, which is good, but then of course I'm putting it in plastic bags to get rid of it, which is not good. How's it going to make it from the never-got-rid-of plastic bag to the earth? Mental note to get some organic recyclable paper bags for the purpose. Went shopping at Tesco for Sunday's family afternoon tea. Should I even be shopping at Tesco's? But it's so convenient. Bought one mini-sized low energy light bulb. I decided not to use the Tesco own brand bulbs (which were cheaper) as I have bought own-brand bulbs in the past and found they didn't last very long. It was only when I got it home I discovered it was a bayonet-fixing, and I needed a screw-fixing for the lamp I had in mind. Then there were the plastic containers for the raspberries, plastic containers for the strawberries, plastic containers for the blackberries and so on. Do we really need this? And how many miles have these poor fruit travelled before they made it to our kitchen? Mental note to try again with the locally grown organic box, even though last time we constantly had leftover vegetables because we (I) never got round to thinking what to do with them each week. At the checkout I was asked, as ever, whether I had a Clubcard. No, I replied for the hundredth time. I do have one actually, but I've long since tired of being constantly asked at the checkout, and also I don't want my spending habits monitored any more. Damn the 1% saving, or whatever it is. One good purchase was the crate of 24 ultra-cheapo canned tomatoes at 15p a can. Not bad considering the same basic foodstuff can cost as much as 75p or more when purchased with a different label. Only thing to watch out for is damaged cans, which apparently is bad for one's health - not an old wive's tale, I've been assured. On the way home popped in to Borders bookshop for two schoolbooks for Aaron, taking care to refuse the tiny Borders plastic bag that we have no use for at home. When we finally got home I discovered an unsolicited package from Kleeneze, which we are supposed to give (or something) to the rep. when she turns up Monday. Sue usually chucks these straight into the recycling, I was a bit kinder and left it on the outside window sill. They even have the nerve to get annoyed if you chuck away their unsolicited mail! We bought a new water heater (urn) for £50 on Friday, as the old one had never been that effective since it's push button lid had semi-broken some time ago. It's still quite usable though, so I am going to offer it to the community via an email group we are members of.