By Janet Hubbard, Earth & Climate Ministry

Have you noticed the five bins in various UUCWC hallways and lobbies (their locations have shifted with construction)? They are meant for the collection of used coffee pods, dental items (brushes, floss sticks, tubes), party paper goods, and chip bags.

Several years ago, the Earth and Climate Ministry’s co-chair, Barbara Drew, secured an Endowment grant of several hundred dollars to purchase these bins and cover shipping costs for the collected items. This supports the UU 7th principle of caring for the Earth. In partnership with Trenton-based Terracycle, these goods were repurposed instead of being sent to landfills. UUCWC’s Michael Waas worked at Terracycle and led a tour of the facility for ECM members in 2020.

ECM encourages all to bring in their used products and be part of the solution.  You can also contribute to the compost bin by Allie’s Garden, where another hard-working co-chair, Al Johnson, collects and spreads food waste to improve the soil for crops grown for food kitchens.  

One last thing: if you’re interested, please consider scooping out the used grounds from your coffee pods. Then, deposit the pods in the bins and add the grounds to the compost area. They enrich the soil nicely. Karen Kent, Barbara, and I do this with dozens or hundreds of pods and would be very grateful for some help.