Taradale Anglican creates space for community recycling centre

As part of their commitment to caring for God’s creation, All Saints Anglican Church in Taradale, Napier has made space for a community recycling centre in their building. Taking advantage of being in a central and accessible place in their suburb, All Saints has partnered with Sustainable HB (Hawkes Bay) to create a recycling centre that is well organised, with well-labelled shelves and crates and even explanations of what happens to the materials that are collected! Michelle Kang, Community Education Lead for Sustainable HB is stoked at the difference it has made for the community to have a recycling centre that is easily accessible: “They get lots of visits every week and since the launch in November, they’ve diverted about 580kg of recycling from going into landfill!“

The Recycling Centre has been a tangible way that Taradale Anglican can show their neighbourhood that they care about the creation care kaupapa.  It also provides opportunities for people to serve and is a great way to get to know people in the neighbourhood.  Rev Derry Boylan, a deacon at Taradale Anglican elaborates:

“Our Specialist Recycling Centre is a great expression of our church's core commitment to creation care. It provides a way for our people to get involved at a practical level, both as volunteers, and participants. Putting it in a prominent location at the front of our building not only makes it highly visible and accessible, but it also says: This is important to us, it is something we put up-front, not a by-the-way thing we do. It's been a great way for our volunteers to interact with the community in a positive way. The welcome and chat is warm and genuine. It demonstrates who we are by what we do and how we behave. It's living Gospel!”