Rubbish Revolution!
Report of a 2019 project in the Anglican Diocese of Wellington by Elise Ranck.
Anglican Advocacy’s Kate Day and Elise Ranck found themselves in the thick of a new revolution - the Rubbish Revolution. Outraged by the amount of landfill-fugitives (plastic waste) buried into a Wellington natural taonga, Anglican Advocacy decided to organise a four-month, all-ages, and stimulating challenge to inspire parishioners to take action at personal and political levels.
The eye-catchingly beautifully renovated waste system at Newlands-Paparangi parish. (Photo credit: Rev. Jennie Sim)
The aim of the programme was to motivate and support churches and affiliated groups to reimagine the current linear waste system, create and implement team based action plans, and share their learnings with others. To fulfill this purpose, Anglican Advocacy arranged several educational and practical workshops hosted by a variety of local waste-reduction experts, a Facebook group in which to share ideas and thoughtful discussion, three teams to run one-off awareness raising bottle drives, and regular check-ins from Elise.
The challenge began with a training day at which registered teams were introduced to Wellington-based waste minimization initiatives and the Te Ao Māori perspective on waste. They learned about waste audits and set their team's goals for the challenge.
From Wellington to Whanganui, 31 teams (with over 100 individuals) from churches, households, workplaces and even a youth leadership training college, put the challenge to the test. Actions varied from team to team. Some households decreased purchasing goods in plastic packaging by spending more time making certain foods from scratch and sewing reusable bags. Others channeled their inner innovative selves and repurposed their rubbish into something practical. Some churches set up publicly accessible compost bins for their apartment-dwelling, non-gardening type neighbours. One particular church team, convicted by their actions, took their reflections straight to the pulpit, even going as far as confessing their waste-ful sins before the communion altar.
Mt. Cook Urban Vision team excitingly excavating their household waste (Photo credit: Elise Ranck)
Sarah Webb teaches Rubbish Revolutionaries to weave with harakeke/flax (Photo credit: Elise Ranck)
All in all, the challenge proved very successful in inspiring creative, faith-founded change. Teams gave their all and finished with an increased appetite for further ways of engagement.
From the Christian perspective we know that God has entrusted us with the care of creation and we also know that we are beings with limitations living in a faulty world. Therefore we respond to the seemingly never-ending issues of waste with ‘grace, not guilt’. We do as much as we can within reason and with the knowledge that it is God who helps us to work together to do even more than we could imagine. This was the resounding message throughout the Rubbish Revolution, one that continues to inspire waste-reduction advocates around the diocese.
If you would like further detail on the format and resources used for the programme (including the training day resources and recordings), please email Elise on advocate@anglicanmovement.nz