By Crys Zinkiewicz
The Creation Care Committee at West End UMC in Nashville successfully moved the church to using a commercial composting company to take food scraps from the day school, congregational meals, and receptions.
The Green Team soon learned the importance of having on-the-spot education from people by the compost bin to help others understand what was compostable and what was not. The education paid off with more enthusiasm from congregation members as their understanding increased. People began asking if they could bring their scraps to put in the church’s bin.
Enter the witness of the second church, aptly named Second Presbyterian. Second Pres was further along in responding to a similar request from their parishioners. As part of their creation care ministry, they placed a collection bin outside the building and were inviting congregation and community members to add to it for free.
West End UMC decided to follow Second Pres’s lead and now has its own bin available to congregation members and to people in the apartments that surround the church.
Nearby, another small group in an independent senior living facility wanted to be able to compost their scraps. In 2023 the Green Team had succeeded in getting the kitchen to buy into a composting service, but residents were not allowed to add to the kitchen waste. But individuals did want to be ethical about their food waste.
Green Team members included one person from Second Presbyterian and one from West End UMC. Consequently, in May 2025 a network emerged of 5 people willing to take scraps to either location. The group has grown to 23. One of the drivers began weighing the amount she was taking for her set of 8 people. In four months that group of 8 had saved 427 pounds from the landfill!
The compost team’s enthusiasm is leading them to consider more way to make composting understood, the opportunity known, and the task convenient for the residents. The group recognizes that the churches’ witness to the importance of caring for God’s Creation and their actions inviting the community to use their bins have made responsible choices possible for many people.
Crys Zinkiewicz is a member of West End UMC, the Green Team at Richland Place Independent Living, and the Creation Justice Movement Communications Team. She is also the writer of the monthly Creation Justice Tips.