Ok, so obviously it’s far greener to use public or human-powered transport but if you have to drive, what’s better: to drive a more-energy-efficient new car (I’m thinking a standard petrol/diesel car, not an electric or hybrid one) or fix up and use an old car instead?

I suspect it’s a balance of unnecessary consumption and waste versus ongoing inefficiency – but does anyone have any details about which is the better option? Are there any other benefits to a new car than that?

Does the amount of miles you do make a difference? And what about the electric or hybrid cars – do they swing the balance in the favour of a new car, despite the resources it takes to make them?

I would love to hear what everyone thinks about this.

(Photo by cwcav, c/o sxc.hu)

We’ve had an email from John K:

I wonder could you help me with an issue I have with disposing of old footwear. I know there are some programs that accept old footwear and the different parts are separated and some are recycled as astro turf, basketball court surfaces and the like. If you do not have access to such a program, what can you do with your old footwear? I live in an apartment so using them for outside activities like gardening can not provide the solution.

I asked this question on my blog last month but nobody left a comment, I’m hoping your readers can come up with some interesting solutions.

We have a similar problem – if they’re in good condition then we charity-shop or freecycle them, but you only need so many pairs of scruffy decorating/gardening shoes. So anyone got any suggestions?

Any details of the programmes John K mentions would be great too.
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Shampoo bottles upset me. Not on the scale of, say, world poverty or abuse of political power but a minor gah most times I wash my hair.

I already buy the biggest bottles I can but still, lots of wasted plastic. The bottles seem so rigid and potentially useful but I have no idea what those uses might be, given they’re typically narrow necked and their previous contents preclude using the bottle to hold anything that might be negatively affected by smelling like a chemical approximation of various fruits.

Any suggestions?
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John and I prefer the ‘reduce’ option when it comes to newspapers and choose to read our news online most of the time. But every now and then, we buy a paper to read on a journey or over lunch, or get a free ad-rag shoved through the letter box.

It seems a shame just throw them in the green bin once we’re done – but aside from keeping a few around for temporary dustsheets, we don’t have that much use for them.

Any ideas?
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Weeks and weeks of growing, then oxidated until it’s black, then dried, then shipped, then packaged, then shipped thousands of miles, then shipped to a warehouse, then shipped to a supermarket, then shipped to our home, then dunked in a tea pot for three minutes, then thrown onto the compost heap.

Any suggestions for a better ending for that tale?
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