In May (https://corridordistrictnc.org/2022/05/creation-care-we-are-connected/) our Corridor District Creation Care team shared a link https://umcreationjustice.org/may-creation-justice-tips/ that included a tip on composting. It was about that time that we initiated a composting project at Mt Sylvan. It started with our creation care team providing containers to anyone who wanted one to bring their compost to the church’s community garden. The effort then grew organically (pun intended). Our fellowship team picked up on the theme and implemented several changes to our weekly church dinners (the number one source of food waste at our church): we switched from non-compostable styrofoam food containers and plastic utensils to using reusable dishes and utensils; we switched from Styrofoam takeout dishes to compostable take out containers and encouraged people to bring reusable containers.; and we contracted with CompostNow (https://compostnow.org/) who are able to compost a wider range of food scraps than we can in the community garden compost.
At first, composting may not seem like the most glamorous project. It doesn’t require a lot of money (it doesn’t require ANY money). It doesn’t require high tech (it doesn’t require ANY tech). However, it’s impact is huge. Organic waste in the general waste stream where it cannot get to oxygen to decompose, creates a tremendous amount of greenhouse gas. Composting is something everyone can do. It’s not hard. The result is to take garbage (literally) and make something useful out of it. Its drawing attention to food and food packaging waste, which ultimately will reduce both as people change their habits.
The Creation Care Team at Mt Sylvan has a dream. We dream of a day when everyone in the church is composting, bringing their buckets with them to church every Sunday. We dream of a line of people with buckets to the compost pile in the garden, drawing attention from passersby, and ultimately participation from the broader community. We look forward to the day when people make jokes about “that church that will take your trash,” and the opening that provides to sharing our faith with others. Open hearts, open minds, open doors, and yes, open buckets.
It wasn’t obvious in the beginning, but in retrospect, it is hard to imagine a more effective creation care project that we could have started or one with a higher return on investment. We encourage every church in the Corridor District to start a composting initiative.