One of our churches in the Leeds area has been awarded their Silver Eco Church award from A Rocha.
All Hallows Bardsey have achieved this by moving through the Eco Church survey, which measures how churches look after buildings and land; how they engage with their local community and in global campaigns, and the personal lifestyles of congregations.
The Revd Angela Hannafin, Vicar of the church, said: “There have been lots of things that we have done as we have moved from Bronze to Silver but the main two have been moving our gas to a carbon neutral supply and setting up our recycle hub in church.
“We now recycle batteries, crisp packets, toothpaste tubes, inkjet cartridges and stamps.
“The church is open during the day, so we are able to take donations from our wider community at any time, not just from our congregation on Sundays.
“The recycling of crisp packets and batteries is being done in partnership with our neighbourhood schools so in this way we are reaching out to our local children and our community.
“Our web site has a special environment section, https://www.bardseyekparish.com/environment, which was particularly praised by the A Rocha award assessors, and all our newsletters, which are also accessible via the web site, always include an Eco chat item.
“We want to set an example for our parishioners of how to care for the environment, and are so pleased that our efforts are being recognised in this way.
“It is so poignant that we have received this award at a time when environmental concerns are headline news during COP26.
“We are grateful to our Parish Administrator and Environment Coordinator, Elizabeth Otty, whose hard work enabled us to achieve Silver status.”
Some of the other things the church has done to reach Silver status include putting a bug hut in the churchyard - made from recycled materials – which now has residents, and two new bird boxes that are awaiting occupants.
They have also contributed to the planting of trees in the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust Wood at Stainforth near Settle, as well as moved to eco-friendly cleaning equipment in church and using compostable disposable crockery.
To find out more about the A Rocha Eco Church project, please click here.