CROCS ARE TOPS

SHOES vary a lot in their carbon footprint, depending on what they’re made of and how long they last. Running shoes made in China might come in at 8kg of CO2e a pair, but specialist leather is more (15kg of CO2e). At the lowest end of the scale are a pair of Crocs, made with just 250g of expanded EVA (foam rubber). They are sold unpackaged so the carbon toll is just over 1kg CO2e per pair.

ARE REUSABLE NAPPIES THAT SAINTLY?

A CLOTH nappy may seem better than a disposable but if washed at 90 degrees and tumble-dried to soften, it’ll carry a higher carbon footprint (165g of CO2e per nappy) than a disposable (130g per nappy).

The lowest carbon option is reusable nappies washed at 60 degrees, line dried, and passed on to a second child (60g CO2e per nappy). Up to 20 per cent of the carbon footprint of a disposable nappy arises from the methane it emits as it rots down in landfill. Biodegradable disposable nappies break down more rapidly in landfill so give off more of the gas.

WINE BOXES OVER BOTTLES

THE bottle usually has a bigger footprint than the wine. Shipping is only a small part, so it doesn’t matter much where your wine comes from. Far more important are the road miles — in your country and the country of origin. For this reason, locally produced wine could cut the footprint by 20 per cent (1.3kg CO2e a bottle from Britain or France) and, oddly, I estimate Australian wine shipped to the UK (in huge sealed tanks) probably has a slightly lower footprint (at 1.4kg) than Sicilian transported in bottles by road (1.65kg). By buying wine boxes or cartons you can reduce the footprint by a factor of about five.