Recycling by Larry Gregory
When the recycle truck pulls up in front of your house, will there be a recycle bin full of cardboard, plastics, cans, papers, and other recyclable items waiting to be picked up? Years ago, when the City of Liberty converted the curbside recycling program to the yellow top bins with commingled recyclables, Second Baptist Church joined in. The church has two bins and fills them both every week.
Are you aware Second Baptist Church recycles? It seems second nature to me, but I encountered a person, not long ago, who was packing up a number of empty recycles to take home. It looked like she needed help and so I offered to assist. On our way out to her car, I ask why she was saving these, and she said they would go in her recycle bin. She had no idea the church has a recycling program. As Christians, we are charged with being good stewards of our earth, and actively participating in recycling programs is one way for us to be good stewards. The cost for the church to participate in the City program has always been higher than it is for residents, but it’s such a good easy way to recycle. As time has passed, the cost to belong to the program has become so high it’s out of line with the value. We also have to be good stewards of our financial resources, so it’s time to make some changes
Are you aware Second Baptist Church has a Green Team? I opened the topic to the Green Team and sparked some passionate conversation, which I guess, was to be expected. After all, these folks choose to be members of the Green Team, and recycling is at the heart of Green. I hope to get assistance from the Green Team at making our church more aware of recycling measures. We have plenty of opportunities to improve our program. And as a part of that improvement, we will be switching vendors for our recycling pickup. By making a switch, we benefit in two ways. First is an increase in bin size, which allows for a greater volume of recycling possibilities. The other improvement is decreasing the cost burden to be a recycling church. Good stewards of the earth and our financial resources.
The next time you’re at church, and you catch yourself throwing away a soda can, a stack of papers, or a red solo cup, just look around and find one of the containers to put it in so it will end up waiting on the truck to be picked up. And if you are preparing a meal or a snack in the church kitchen, there will be many opportunities to recycle the empty containers. Recycle… Recycle… Recycle!