It’ll all come out in the greenwash

The business of unsustainable post and why we’re still funding the arsonists in a world on fire both pose solvable dilemmas for Kate Hughes

Pet hates: envelope windows, pension investments and a laminated flier for ‘Pirates of Penzance’ (Getty/iStock)

Can someone talk me through the little windows in your average business envelope? I seem to have spent the last week painstakingly peeling them away from the paper remains so as not to contaminate the compost.

For starters, why do they even exist? The four-year-old – clearly still clinging to Christmas memories to get him through the bleakness of pre-half term Feb – is pretty confident it’s so the post elves can see out.

But why do grown-ups (and I use the term loosely) use them? To avoid the cost of printing a name and address twice? Because I’m not sure how that stacks up in terms of the whole glue, plastic and extra processing bit.