Church Launches Community Composting Opportunity

Coral Isles Church in Tavernier, Florida recently kicked off a community composting project by installing a composting bin at its church. The County Recycling Coordinator and the local Extension Officer provided education and a hands-on demonstration of composting for the community. The process is simple – layers of newspaper, food waste and yard waste added to the bin. Time and heat do the work of composting.

The church was already engaged in plastic reduction and environmental advocacy.  Composting was added after a brainstorming session by the Mission Committee.  

“We are located on an island in the Florida Keys,” explained Barbara Overton, Mission Chair for the church. She continued, “All of our waste must be trucked up to the mainland for treatment and disposal. The county does not offer composting and so the Mission Committee decided to host the composting program. Anything we can do to reduce the flow to the landfills is a benefit to the community.” 

According to the EPA, about a third of our nation’s food is wasted. Food waste in landfills accounts for some 58% of the methane gas created, and 61% of that gas is not captured for energy use. Composting food waste puts organic nutrients into the soil and keeps it out of landfills.  

“We want to be known as the congregation in the community that is a leader on environmental issues and as the place where people go for creation care,” said the Rev. Dr. Bruce Havens, the pastor at Coral Isles Church. “Climate change is a deeply spiritual issue we are facing, and that spiritual view is widely shared in the congregation.”

The church received a donation of a composting bin and has just about filled it in the first few months. A new bin has recently been added.  The Mission Committee is exploring additional options such as hot composting and vermiculture. “Our composting program is simple to operate. We know we could do it faster and are learning about additional techniques. But our first goal was to just get started,” explained Barbara Overton.

The church invites the larger community to bring food waste to the bin on the first Sunday of the month from 11:30 am to noon. Church members may drop off their food waste every Sunday.