An ex-Red is “living the dream” in Totnes, England — a New Age eco-community where plastic is the enemy and beards are a common thread.

Ex-TFC fullback Richard Eckersley no longer is the hard-as-nails defender whose aggression and commitment endeared him to fans at BMO Field five years ago.

In his own words, Eckersley has become more “chill,” living the simple life with his wife, Nicola, and their toddler after falling out of love with soccer and jumping head first into a“zero-waste” lifestyle.

Eckersley and his wife recently opened Earth.Food.Love — to “create a better future” for the planet — on England’s south coast. The 28-year-old Brit has swapped his playing boots for a kitchen apron amid completely changing his lifestyle.

“In Toronto, I was more about how I looked and what I drove and what kind of place I owned,” Eckersley told the Toronto Sun this week. “I was very materialistic.”

An abrupt trade to New York Red Bulls in 2014 played a part in “opening (Eckersley’s) eyes” as he discovered veganism in the City That Never Sleeps.

He began watching documentaries and reading more about the lifestyle amid encountering tribulations in his football career.

“New York said they didn’t want to pay me anything but the minimum,” Eckersley explained. “I was like, ‘Come on.’ You want me to live in New York on minimum wage?”

Ex-TFC fullback Richard Eckersley goes "chill." Now, he tells me he's living the dream in Totnes https://t.co/uC80gI0z0r#TFCLive@MLSpic.twitter.com/R8YFe9GWAw — Kurtis Larson (@KurtLarSUN) September 6, 2017

A brief move to Oldham Athletic a year later intensified Eckersley’s desire to change his life. The experience, he said, was nowhere near as enjoyable as it was in Toronto or the Big Apple. He couldn’t wait to leave the League One club.

“The quality of the fans and the facilities from MLS to League One was a crazy difference,” Eckersley said. “You get treated really well in MLS. There were times at Oldham where I’d get paid late

“I kind of chilled out a little bit. I wasn’t as aggressive. Throughout my whole career that had driven me through most games. I became more chill and it impacted my game.”

So he moved into a new game — the zero-waste game. The idea to open one of England’s first “zero-waste” stores was inspired by Original Unverpackt, a German business Eckersley spotted one day while browsing Facebook.

“I wanted to move to a place where we could raise our daughter the way we wanted to raise her — close to nature,” Eckersley added.

“We just used our resources from playing football to start it. Otherwise, this wouldn’t have happened. I’m thankful for football for that at least.”

He has watched two Toronto FC games since leaving the city. He watched highlights of last year’s MLS Cup final and called Stefan Frei’s game-saving stop “a worldy.”

“What do you guys write about now?” Eckersley asked with a laugh. “It must be so positive and buzzing.”

Asked if he’s surprised to see the Reds finding so much success a few years following Danny Koevermans’ “worst team in the world” quip, Eckersley said it was bound to happen.

“It was always going that way. It just needed time,” said Eckersley, who still owns a condo near BMO Field. “The fans have always been amazing. All the imagination has come to fruition.

“As long as the fans are happy, I’m happy. Everyone is having a ball. What a city to be in when you’re winning. We were losing and it was still a great city to be in.”

The one thing he regrets is how his time in Toronto ended.

“It was badly done by the head honchos there at the time,” he said. “They didn’t let me thank the fans. They didn’t have anything for me afterwards.

“Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t want to go and have a parade around Toronto. But even just a 15-20 minutes on the pitch to clap the fans off. That’s what I wanted.”

A more “chill” Eckersley now refers to his sudden BMO Field exit as “water under the bridge.”

In what could have been the prime of his playing career, Eckersley’s found something far more important to him.