Environment

Please make a concerted effort to ensure everything that can be recycled is put in the appropriate recycle bin.

GREEN RECYCLING BINS ARE FOR

Click link above to view Leeds City Council’s webpage listing items to put in a Green Bin.

Before recycling:

• Exhaust aerosols of furniture polish and air freshener then remove their plastic caps.
• Remove packaging tape from cardboard boxes and flatten them to save green bin space.

BROWN RECYCLING BINS ARE FOR

Click link above to view Leeds City Council’s webpage listing items to put in a brown bin.

BLACK INCINERATOR BINS are ONLY for items that Leeds City Council does not recycle.

The Leeds Incinerator at Cross Green. The heat produced from burning non-recyclable waste is supplied via the Leeds Pipes network providing homes, businesses, and public buildings with heat and hot water that is affordable, reliable, and low carbon.

OTHER ITEMS

Waste Carriers

Many other, larger and trade items – can be recycled, or legally tipped, at one of Leeds City Council’s Waste and Recycling Centres, Tips or Waste Transfer Stations.

Leeds Accredited Waste Carriers Scheme helps Leeds residents find someone local, legal, and responsible to take away their waste. If you need to get rid of some waste from your home or garden, this list will help you find responsible waste carriers. All those listed have been accredited by Leeds City Council.

Oakwood Church’s Recycling-Project Bin

At Oakwood Church, as good neighbours, we gather and recycle some items that cannot go into Leeds City Council’s Green Bins.

Please put the following into our special Recycling-Project Bin – situated at the far end of the car park beyond the Church Hall entrance:

 Writing implements (e.g. pens, markers).

 Dental care plastic (e.g. plastic packaging, toothbrushes, empty floss containers).

Notes 

• Please clean out containers.
• No need to sort the items listed above, just put them into the Recycling-Project Bin.
• Leave items in a bag when you put them in the Recycling-Project Bin.
• Type 2 and Type 4 plastic are now recycled by Leeds City Council. Put these in Green Bins.
• The only locations we know of for recycling medicine tablet blister packs are Superdrug stores in Leeds City Centre.
• You can recycle Pringles containers at Leeds City Council’s Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs) Evanston Avenue, Leeds LS4 2HR and Thorpe Arch Industrial Estate, Leeds LS23 7BJ.

If you might be interested in helping with our special Recycling-Project, please call Pete Oldfield at 07719 310 207, email pplb.oldfield@ntlworld.com

Everyone at Oakwood Church and in the local community can help everyone else by Doing All You Can to help the Environment at Church, at home, at work, at leisure and when travelling.

Sustainability isn’t a one-time effort. It’s a continuous journey. This Easy Eco Tips 2024 Calendar from A Rocha UK will keep you and Oakwood Church inspired throughout the year, with fresh ideas for each month and help to foster a lasting commitment to a greener lifestyle.

Small actions can lead to significant impacts. That’s why the A Rocha Calendar and our own Eco Tips document focus on easy-to-implement ideas, ensuring that everyone can contribute regardless of their lifestyle or the time they can spare.

Please share your own Eco Tips with us. We may publish them on this webpage. You can download our Eco Tips document displayed below as a printable PDF.

Eco-Tips-V1-12-01-2024

Art Group member Anne Hardiman contributed the following Reflections to St Andrew’s Roundhay weekly Newsletter “in the hope that we may Praise God by caring for the world He gave us and Love our Neighbour by sharing the world’s resources.”

She hopes these Reflections will be shared far and wide. You can download the POETS Corner document displayed below as a printable PDF.

Anne welcomes contributions, comments and queries by email to grannianni1@hotmail.co.uk.

POETS-Reflections-V4-16-03-2024

Eco Church, A Rocha https://ecochurch.arocha.org.uk/

Climate Change Committee Independent advice to government on building a low carbon economy and preparing for climate change. https://www.theccc.org.uk/ The Committe published Hydrogen in a low-carbon economy a major Report and illustrative Poster published in November 2018 Summary

The Methodist Church Hope in God’s Future. https://www.methodist.org.uk/our-work/our-work-in-britain/climate-change/hopVommittee e-in-gods-future/

Church of England, Diocese of Leeds Caring for God’s Creation. https://www.leeds.anglican.org/environment

Church of England The environment and climate change. https://www.churchofengland.org/environment

Churches Together in Britain and Ireland Environment – churches and Christian organisations. https://ctbi.org.uk/environment-churches-and-christian-organisations/#ecochurch

The John Ray Initiative connecting Environment, Science and Christianity https://jri.org.uk/

Pray and Fast for the Climate https://prayandfastfortheclimate.org.uk/

Green Christian Responding to the Cry of the Earth. https://greenchristian.org.uk/

Climate Stewards Offset unavoidable carbon emissions. https://www.climatestewards.org/

OPERATION NOAH Working with the Church to inspire action on the climate crisis. https://operationnoah.org/. An Article published in the Methodist Recorder was distributed as a flyer with our church magazine The Broadcast for February 2019. You can download the article here.

Caring for God’s Acre Caring for burial grounds https://www.caringforgodsacre.org.uk/

Leeds City Council Environmental Services. https://services.leeds.gov.uk/

REAP – Roundhay Environmental Action Project Taking positive local action to tackle environmental issues and living more sustainably. https://www.reap-leeds.org.uk/

The Big Plastic Count Help investigate to stop the plastic crisis. https://thebigplasticcount.com/

Climate change is a global issue but that doesn’t mean that individuals are powerless in the fight to help the environment.

Everyone at Oakwood Church and in our local community can help by Doing All You Can to help the environment at Oakwood Church, at home, at work, at leisure, and when travelling.

Please share your own Eco Tips with us and we may publish them on this web page – see the Eco Tips section on this webpage.

More ideas

• The Church of England, Diocese of Leeds publshes a monthly Newsletter called God’s Green Fingers.
• The BBC’s 39 Ways to Save the Planet looks at the brilliant methods that people are using to reverse the effects of climate change.
• There are tips from environmental scientists like Dr Tara Shine, in her book How to Save Your Planet One Object at a Time.
• The Energy Saving Trust has Quick tips to save energy.

On the basis that:

1. The world is facing a severe crisis of environmental degradation and climate change that affects our ability to sustain human civilisation in its present form;

2. The main cause of the crisis is human activity;

3. The crisis is inextricably linked to global injustices and inequality;

4. The crisis indicates a failure of human beings to follow God’s mandate to care for the world and to seek justice among its peoples;

We, the leaders of Oakwood Church, want to publicly recognise a Climate and Environmental Emergency, and commit ourselves to:

1. Examining our lives individually and as a Church in relation to this crisis, and seeking to live faithfully to God;

2. Bringing forward by December 2021 an action plan to minimise our negative impact as a Church on the environment and climate and to help restoration where possible;

3. Encouraging our members to make relevant lifestyle changes appropriate to their circumstances;

4. Encouraging action on this emergency in our neighbourhoods, workplaces and other spheres of activity;

5. Using whatever influence we may have to bring about positive actions by local and national government and by corporations.

Leadership Team at Oakwood Church, Springwood Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire.

Our Rocha Eco Church Silver Award – Certificate

This is in recognition of our commitment to Environmental issues in our Worship, Buildings, Energy Use and Lifestyle.

Thank you to all who have supported our environmental work

We will be working towards the Gold Award over the next 24 months. If you would like to know more details, or how you can support Oakwood Church in caring for the Environment, please contact Al Fraser.

Leadership Team at Oakwood Church, Springwood Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire.

The Resources Team and Church Council agreed and pledged support to the Environmental Policy for Oakwood Church, first presented on 25 February 2019.  The Policy was also endorsed at the Oakwood Church Annual Meeting on the 26th March 2019.

It means that, as a church community, we will take environmental concerns into account in our mission, worship, study, education, training, pastoral, administrative and all other activities impacting on our environmental footprint and climate change.

As Christians in our local church, we aim to take the practical steps necessary to realise the Fifth Mark of Mission, which is “to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and to sustain the life of the earth”.  We will give our support to address the issues of air and water pollution, waste management, ecosystem management, bio diversity protection, the protection of natural resources, wildlife and endangered species, and the preservation of these natural resources for future generations.

Leadership Team at Oakwood Church, Springwood Road, Leeds, West Yorkshire.

To address the issues of

• air and water pollution,

• waste management,

• ecosystem management,

• bio diversity protection,

• the protection of natural resources, wildlife and endangered species, and the preservation of these natural resources for future generations

Environmental Policy Recommendations

1. Include our concern for sustainability in our worship and teaching

2. Undertake an environmental and energy audit of the church premises and property, recognising that some additional costs may be incurred to minimise environmental impacts

3. Work with others in our local community to identify environmental issues which should be addressed in our area and help develop actions to tackle them

4. As the church’s energy use is arguably its greatest environmental issue, seek to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions of the electricity and gas used in church premises

5. Encourage our Church members wherever possible to use forms of transport to work, meetings, etc. which have minimum or reduced environmental impact e.g. walk, cycle, use public transport, car share

6. Seek ways to reduce material consumption and the impact of our activities on the environment by, wherever possible

• Serving locally produced food
• Using email rather than sending paper copies
• Using recycled paper
• Using low environmental impact cleaning materials

7. Avoid using water unnecessarily, install water meters where appropriate, check for leakages, fit water minimising systems to taps and cisterns wherever practicable

8. Assess our land and property for wildlife and manage them to conserve bio diversity

9. Encourage individual members of our congregations to take actions in their personal lives to complement and supplement these actions of the church community

10. Participate in the ‘Eco Church’ programme

Eco Church is Rocha UK’s award scheme for churches in England and Wales who want to demonstrate that the gospel is good news for God’s earth.

It offers a free online survey and supporting resources designed to equip a church to express care for God’s world in worship and teaching; in how to look after your buildings and land; in how to engage with your local community and in global campaigns, and in the personal lifestyles of your congregation

The actions taken will count towards a prestigious Eco Church Award at Bronze, Silver or Gold level

The vision is for churches of all denominations to care for creation as an integral part of loving their neighbours and following God faithfully