What is the Green Team?
In the Fall of 2018, the idea of a Green Team surfaced in a Leadership Team discussion. Shortly after the discussion occurred, Tony Kendzierski, St. Isidore’s Christian Service Coordinator, began building a team of people to tackle this initiative. The Green Team typically meets one Wednesday a month at 10 AM.
What is the purpose of the Green Team?
The Green Team was created to assist the parish in moving toward green initiatives such as recycling, reusing, and reducing. Additionally, we plan to serve as an education team on items that concern the proper stewardship of the earth. The primary focus is looking for cost-effective measures to reduce, reuse, and recycle.
- St. Isidore Green Initiatives that have occurred over the last 12 months:
- Installed new LED lighting throughout the exterior of the facility. (Reduced power consumption)
- Installed low flow faucet aerators and pre-rinse sprayers. (Reduced water/gas consumption)
- Installed LED bulbs in the social hall and the gathering space; the bulbs were supplied for free by DTE. (Reduced power consumption)
- Secured a cardboard recycling container with a bi-weekly pick-up. (Recycle)
- Began the migration process of moving away from Styrofoam and toward more earth-friendly options such as paper. (Recycle)
- Reached an agreement to replace the majority of the light troffers with new LED lighting. (Reduced power consumption)
- Proactively program the lighting system to minimize unneeded lighting of the facility. (Reduced power consumption)
- Secured a local vendor for the recycling of batteries. (Recycle)
Future opportunities:
- Recruit a team to help enact green initiatives at events. The current event coordinators (Fish Fry, Strawberry Festival, etc.) already have a huge responsibility, so if we want to see the change we have to physically provide the alternative so that we reduce the amount of work of the event coordinators, not create work for them.
- Price out eco-friendlier packaging to see if this is an option as we move forward. (Recycle)
- Schedule an annual e-waste recycling event for the parish. (Recycle)
- Secure permanent recycling options for plastic and metal. (Recycle)
If you are interested in getting involved with this initiative please contact Tony Kendzierski, Christian Service Coordinator at Tony@stisidore.church or call 586-286-1700, ext. 2108.