ECO COMMITTEE

November 2002 Meeting Report

Time to move forward with our eco credentials! A small group of us (The Vicar, Bill Bailey, Eric & Penny Jefferies, Annabel Roe, Margaret Teuten, Liz Williams and John and myself) has been discussing what initiatives the church might consider embarking on as a second phase of our work towards a better concern for the environment.

Having been one of the first churches in the UK to get the Eco Congregation Award, we see our main aim now as being to encourage church members to adopt good environmental practice in their own lives. As a starting point for this, I intend to produce a short questionnaire on lifestyles which I hope everyone will enjoy completing.

In addition we want to use any contacts we have with other churches to encourage them to enter for the award.

We are also urging Ealing Council to look again at its recycling systems, particularly how green boxes might be provided for blocks of flats and that plastic should be accepted in them. We will also push supermarkets to have recycling bins for plastic, as Tesco and Waitrose already do.

We discussed improvements that might be introduced at the church itself. These included a move towards using only recycled paper and eco-friendly cleaning materials, banning the use of weed-killer on church grounds and getting a recycling bin for parishioners' plastic (until green boxes accept it).

We hope too that eco topics and the need to care for God's World will continue to be part of our Sunday worship by being included regularly in sermons and prayers. And do let me know your own favourite eco-tips.

If you would like to be part of our team, please contact me.

Gillian Harrison (8998 2223)