CURRENT PROJECTS

• › Recycling: Park Street now recycles paper, plastic and aluminum! Look out for the new recycling bins through out the church.
• › Energy audit: We are calculating Park Street’s historic use and costs for energy, water, natural gas and trash. We will use these as benchmarks and will measure our progress to reduce the use and cost in each of these areas. Additionally, we are pursuing an expert to complete an official assessment of the church’s buildings and recommend opportunities for enhancements in energy and water efficiency.
• › Room flow analysis: Based on the results of the energy audit, we will identify the church’s most efficient buildings and, as possible, steer room scheduling into those buildings in order to minimize use of less efficient facilities – this strategy has potential to save energy on lights, air-conditioning/heating, etc. throughout the week.
• › Disposables: We are pursuing a more environmentally friendly strategy towards use of disposable products, such as plates, cups, bowls and flatware, at Park Street events such as the all-church breakfast. We are currently exploring options for composting all food-related waste and all disposable products and may have that up and running by late fall.
• › Reusing and recycling bulletins: We are encouraging congregants to reuse bulletins by dropping them at the back of the sanctuary at any of the services before 6pm. This allows us to print fewer bulletins each week. Additionally, starting in the late fall or early winter, we are pursuing options to print all bulletins on recycled paper.
• › Capital campaign: As the church is selecting new appliances and devices for the renovations, Park Street Green is providing support in identifying the most energy and water-efficient devices as possible.

FUTURE PROJECTS

Below is a mix of upcoming plans and blue-sky hopes. All of these projects require research. If you have expertise or enthusiasm for a particular project, please contact us.

• › Serve as a community recycling center for electronics or another difficult-to-recycle medium
• › Host conferences, seminars, and speakers to educate the congregation and the community on caring for God's creation
• › Partner with local community groups and other houses of worship
• › Coordinate an electronics recycling fundraiser
• › Print our bulletins on recycled paper
• › Ensure that safe dyes are used in bulletin and other publications
• › Provide materials for those who wish to complete environmental audits of home, work, or local community
• › Encourage a Christian Formation class on stewardship
• › Organize car pooling
• › Install devices and appliances that minimize the environmental impact
• › Continue to reduce toxic substances used as cleaning agents
• › Increase the number of post-recycling products
• › Provide composting options