A: Still lighting them up are you? Haven’t cracked the habit? But even a 20-a-day tea-light addict can kick it. Just think about the pollutants crammed into the paraffin wax and the artificial scents you’re filling your home with. Think of your family. And your lovingly painted walls that may already be tarnished with black marks. But once you consider all the other vile substances belched out by man and his machines, in far greater quantities, your candle habit does begin to look like small beer.

Yep, I admit I’m with the sooty-fingered addicts on this one. I know paraffin wax is a petroleum-based by-product of crude oil and, therefore, not sustainable. I also realise it emits low levels of carbon dioxide as it burns. But I’d rather turn my heating off, save burning fossil fuels that way, and carry on using candles to illuminate my steaming-hot bath, thank you very much.

If, on the other hand, you’re angling for an excuse to splash out on a posh candle, please be my guest.

I’ve got a rosemary and eucalyptus one (see below) hand-made by True Grace (£15; www.truegrace.co.uk), a husband-and-wife team based near Stonehenge. Made of natural wax (soya bean and palm-oil derivatives), it burns with no carbon emission — and smells divine. There’s hope for a romantic dinner on Valentine’s Day after all.

Q: Can you recycle those envelopes with plastic windows?

A: I’m afraid not. They are the enemy of paper mills, classed as contaminants along with staples, glue and all the other glittery materials we embellish paper with.

While the technology to remove staples in the screening and cleaning stage is quite good, so we can recycle magazines, plastic windows block up the machines. That said, it’s worth checking with your local authority first as some mills cope better than others with contaminants.

Given the popularity of these envelopes — from banks, businesses and all the mystery sources of junk mail that would track down a nomad given half the chance — I fear that you are condemned to a lifetime of ripping the blasted bits out. No fun for anyone. Then there’s the gummy strip, which some paper mills object to as well. By which point, many of us fall prey to recycling rage — the intensity of which should not be underestimated. As you reflect on the tiny scrap of recyclable paper remaining, it may strike you that you could abandon ship completely and move farther up the green ladder of virtuosity, by reusing.

This will not only save your sanity but also the energy required for recycling. I’m all for it, in the spirit of thrifty Forties chic. Sometimes I’m tempted to spray my salvaged envelope with perfume and write in a fountain pen, just for effect. Of course, it can be a bit fiddly poking your own address label under the plastic window but I wasn’t raised watching Blue Peter for nothing. Next week, stamps.

Do you have a green dilemma? E-mail it to ecoworrier@thetimes.co.uk