In these days of global meltdown it is so often the case that we feel there is nothing we can do to help. There are so many things that we do every day that can make a difference though. Okay they are only small but they do count. Take the whole owning a vehicle thing. There is the fuel that we use, the oil, the exhaust fumes and later, when it is older, there is the disposal of it after its life is over.

The first one is something we can all do something about and that is to walk further or more often. Maybe it is a little too cold that you could put an extra jumper on and walk anyway. You always get warm when you walk. The next is the oil that your vehicle uses, if the vehicle is serviced regularly it will degrade less than if you leave the servicing interval too long. This degradation of the vehicle shortens the life span and means that the vehicle will need replacing sooner. The exhaust fumes come from the amount of driving you do so see the first point. Finally we come to the last and final part of any vehicles life – its disposal. When my van stopped for the last time I took it to the van breakers yard and spoke to the guy there and he said that his most responded to advert was the vans wanted one that goes in the local paper every Friday. He showed me what happened to the van and I saw the store that houses all the van spares, it was massive.

I think then that to scrap a vehicle is a waste, it should be taken to a place that can turn it into van parts and then store them until someone comes along and needs that part. This is the green way of thinking about vehicle ownership. It’s a responsible attitude in a world where there is a need for more of us to take responsibility for the end of life of the things we use every day.