A British mum claims that she is living a near perfect eco-friendly existence - as she only puts her bin out once EVERY TWO YEARS.
Cate Cody, 44, could very well be the most frugal person in Britain - and her tips are recommended for anyone who is keen to save money .
Her lifestyle is reminiscent of that aspired to by Tom and Barbara from the popular 1970s BBC sitcom The Good Life.
She lives her life every day trying to buy everything she purchases wrapper-free or avoiding shopping for fruit and veg by growing her own.
She takes plastic tubs to the butchers and fishmongers - and even makes her own toothpaste and deodorant out of bicarbonate of soda and organic oils.
If she buys eggs or jam she donates the boxes and jars to friends for re-use and wraps Christmas presents with scarves instead of using rolls of paper.
The only things that go in her black bin are seals from milk bottles and the occasional bit of plastic packaging from food, usually that friends have brought over.
The jazz singer - who doesn't own a TV and buys all her clothes from charity shops - insists she is no hippy.
Mother-of-one Cate, from Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire, said: "I'm just a normal person who really cares about the environment.
"I have always been very conscious of the world around me. Even when I was a kid I couldn't bear to litter - I thought it was a weird thing to do.
"The bin thing started about ten years ago. I remember saying to my neighbour, 'It just isn't worth putting the bin out.'
"She said, 'Mine isn't full either,' so we ended up sharing.
"Now I've cut the waste down so much that the last time my bin went out was in January and before that, it hadn't been out for a year and nine months.
"It wasn't actually full when we did put it out. We just thought we would start again because it was the New Year."
Cate - who is also a Green Party politician - and her partner John Day now aim to go for two years without putting the black bin out, though she does fill up a recycling bin once every eight weeks or so.
She said: "We've only got one tiny bin in the house, in the kitchen, and the only things we put in it are the tabs you get on milk bottles.
"Occasionally we might buy some vegetables with plastic around them. We will recycle that but the sticky label will go in the bin.
"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.
"I'll take Tupperware to the butchers and fishmongers and they put that on the scales and fill it up.
"We usually shop in an ethical supermarket and if we go, I'll take a rucksack. I haven't used plastic bags for nearly ten years.
"If friends come over they might bring a packet of crisps so that will go in the bin if they can find it, but we tend not to buy things if they can't be recycled.
"We will use the library for books and borrow things from friends or go to boot sales or secondhand shops.
"Obviously not underwear, but other clothes I will buy in charity shops. I wear nice clothes when I'm singing but I still wear things I got 20 years ago.
"I also use organic shampoo and make toothpaste and deodorant myself at home.
"You can't expect them to taste or do exactly the same thing as shop-bought products - the toothpaste doesn't froth up, for example - but they work fine for me.
"The main thing is not buying things that we don't need. There is nearly always an alternative."
As well as limiting her waste, Cate boycotts 'unethical' companies like Coca Cola and can't remember ever having eaten a McDonald's.
She's also given up coffee because the process of making it uses a lot of water and doesn't touch beef because of its impact on global warming.
Though she has a car for long journeys, she usually gets around by bike and the home she shares with double bassist John, 55, is practically technology-free.
Cate said: "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.
"My daughter and I got rid of it when she was about 13 when I made a passing comment and said, 'If it wasn't for you I probably wouldn't have a TV.'
"She said, 'Well why don't we try it,' and we did for a few weeks. She said she felt she did much better at school without it. I don't miss it at all."
Born and raised in Kenya, where her dad worked in farming, Cate credits her eco-friendly lifestyle to her roots.
She said: "The closest shop is miles away so you learn to reuse everything.
"When we moved back to this country when I was about three we had a smallholding with chickens and would grow our own vegetables, and it's gone from there."
Last month Cate ran for MP in Tewkesbury "to give people the opportunity to vote Green" and finished with 2.7 per cent of the vote.
She's also set up a community exchange site called Green Minded People in Tewkesbury, where locals can swap everything from gadgets to cardboard boxes.
She added: "I'm astonished at how much waste people create. I don't know whether they put clothes and books in their bins instead of charity shops and things like that.
"It makes me feel terribly sad. Most of those things could be recycled.
"If everyone did what I'm doing it would have a massive impact. I don't go around preaching, this is just what I do."