Friday, September 8, 2023
The Breakfast Club Goes Green
The Breakfast Club is a group of guys who have religiously (pardon the pun) served all who come to Thaxter Hall for breakfast from 6:30am-8:30am every Monday. They have been doing this since the start of the ministry in January. Their menus have included regular breakfast fare, like scrambled eggs and bacon, but have also included pancakes and sausage, French toast, fresh fruit salad, and a take on egg McMuffins, to name a few.
Now, the Club is going green! You won’t see green eggs and ham being served, but you will see that all the serving implements are compostable – the plates, cups, napkins, forks and knives. This means that all these items (with any food scraps) will be composted by Mr. Fox’s service which picks them up each week from the church’s compost bin in the lower parking lot.
The Breakfast Club is trying to get all of St. John’s tuned into being green. To help understand how this might work at SJC, let’s first define where the various waste streams generated at the church fit in the “green scheme.”
Compostable wastes – Any biodegradable item would fit in this category, such as food scraps, coffee grinds, egg shells, and special serving implements (like those listed above) which are made from products that can be composted. Not all paper and plastic can be easily composted. Some of these have coatings and other components which hinder the process and are therefore not suitable for composting. The compost generated from this process makes a great soil amendment for home gardens and other landscaping purposes.
Recyclable wastes – These include items such as metal cans, plastic food packaging, glass bottles, paper, and plastic and glass beverage containers, similar to those you likely separate for your household garbage now. These items are collected by the city waste haulers and are then separated to be reused in secondary glass, plastic, metal or paper products.
Garbage – We’ll call this anything left after the compostable and recyclable items have been removed from the waste stream. SJC uses a dumpster for these items. The dumpster is emptied twice a month.
So, at SJC, look for going green to start over the next few months. Here’s how you can help. At coffee hour, place your compostable items (food scraps, plates, napkins, etc.) in the compost bin. It will be marked “Compost.” Place recyclable items (empty water bottles, soda cans, glass bottles, newsprint or other printed paper) in the recycle bin. It will be marked “Recycle.” All other items will go in the garbage pail, marked “Garbage.” Feel free to ask which bin to use if you’re unsure.
Thanks for participating in this important endeavor. Feel free to join The Breakfast Club for breakfast from 6:30-8:30am any Monday at Thaxter Hall.