Eco Church

This year's festival is 14th June 2025.

Latest resources

Here's a video from brilliant videographer Joel about Streetly's Eco Church journey so far. (Youtube link)

Streetly's eco story

In 2016, after much discussion we replaced our failing heating system with one fuelled by a boiler that burns wood pellets. It steered us in a direction of increasing concern for our environment. We registered interest in Eco Church and worked towards its goals. We found space in our grounds for a little Eco Garden where flowers and vegetables are grown without chemicals and watered from rainwater collected in a butt. We entered the Royal Horticultural Society's 'It's your Neighbourhood scheme' and won a 'Thriving' award for 2 consecutive years. In 2016 we celebrated our achievements with an Eco weekend which included a range of talks, a multifaith discussion and a service at which our Biomass boiler was blessed. We invited Ruth Valerio of Eco Church to this and she presented us with our Bronze Eco Church award. Two local MPS and the mayor of Sutton Coldfield joined us during the weekend.

In 2017 we held our second Eco Festival. We joined forces with Woodland's trust's Tree Charter and collected hundreds of signatures to promote the conservation and enjoyment of trees. We cleared our woodland area of rhododendron bushes and built an outdoor stage in it. During the Eco Festival we had a Rowan tree ceremonially planted by a Sutton Park ranger. We were awarded a Sessile Oak tree by the Tree Charter which we later planted in Sutton Park, joined by the mayor and members of Friends of Sutton Park Association. We achieved our Silver Eco Church award.

In 2018, our Eco Festival was called 'The Good Life' and focused on home crafts and the principles of 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.' In 2019 we explored 'Birds, Bees and Cooking' which focused on the advantages of a plant- based diet- and of course home-grown food. The event was opened by Alan Gardner- the garden designer who starred in Chanel 4s' the autistic gardener'.

Our 5th Eco Festival, in 2020, turned out rather differently. The theme was 'Water Ways' and explored the problem of plastics polluting our beautiful canals and rivers. Unfortunately Covid-19 denied us our usual outdoor festival but we posted a variety of informative videos on our Facebook page from the people who would have attended. Our Sunday service involved the blessing of our new natural play area in the Woodland. This is dedicated to a previous church member and Brown Owl and is intended to be open to the general public. Meanwhile at the nearby Recreation Ground owned by our church, the dilapidated tennis courts have been brought back to life and are ready for play..

Over the years we have welcomed a wide variety of environmentally-interested groups to our Eco Festivals. The church itself has been the venue for a compost-making demonstration, spinning wheels and launching a hydrogen rocket. We have had live music from classical choirs, Barbershop and Sea Shanties to Folk and a youth orchestra. Each year we have had a mixture of new and returning faces . Particular friends have been Jonathan Ensell of Roots to Fruits West Midlands, Eco Sutton, RSPB, Michael Taylor the wood turner, FOSPA and the Sutton Park rangers. We have learned about beekeeping, violin-making, photographing trees and how to use a wood lathe. Children have enjoyed a variety of crafts, competitions, Treasure hunts and Scavenger hunts

Whatever we learn from our Eco festivals we try to put into practice in our church. We encourage all hall users to avoid unnecessary waste. We include vegetarian options for meals. We use toilet paper that is not wrapped in plastic and all our toilets are twinned with toilets in developing countries. We use LED lightbulbs and insulate our buildings as and when we can afford it. We support the local environmental charity, Birmingham and Black country Wildlife Trust. We collect batteries for recycling. We have taken smart recycled clothes to the charity 'Suited for Success'. We promote the search engine 'Ecosia' which allows trees to be planted. Individual members and groups have taken part in lobbying local MPs, joining the youth climate protests and litter picking locally.

Our local church circuit is now being encouraged to become an Eco Circuit with all churches aiming for at least a bronze Eco Church award.

Next year's Eco Festival will be called 'Flower Potty' and will focus on biodiversity and what we can do in our gardens. We hope to measure and further reduce the church's carbon footprint. We will hold a Climate Sunday in preparation for the COP26 Summit in November 2021.

LOCAL RECYCLING OPPORTUNITIES

Recycling has many shortcomings - obviously it is better than sending waste to landfill but it takes energy to operate recycling schemes but also to transport and sort the waste. Instead we should remember that recycling is the last of the 3 Rs. REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

Reduce and reuse are much more important.

We need to limit the waste we create and reuse as much as we can. That being said here is some up-to-date information on recycling. If you are not sure about whether an item can be recycled you can check at www.recyclenow.com

Spectacles, Contact Lenses and Packaging

These can be recycled through Specsavers stores. Boots Opticians also recycle but use TerraCycle

Lions International in Birmingham has a scheme to donate unwanted spectacles to eye clinics in the developing world. Contact enquiries@lionsclubs.co.uk or call free on 0345 8339502

Cosmetics

Boots will take all forms of cosmetic items - mascara, lipstick, make-up palettes etc from any brand.

Neals Yard sell their cosmetics in mainly glass bottles and you can buy refills without pump dispensers at a lower cost.

Cleaning products

The pump tops from these cannot go in the normal plastic recycling. If possible keep them and reuse on a refillable or replacement bottle. Many brands are now offering refill packs which means the existing bottle and pump top can be used much longer.

Companies offering refill hand soap include Carex and Bayliss and Harding.

Ecover, Bio, Splosh, and Faith in Nature are readily available green cleaning products.

Cif do a concentrated replacement for their kitchen and bathroom cleaners which you dilute with water. The very small refill container means less transport and storage costs.

If you can't re-use the pumps, Boots recycling scheme will take them.

Dental items

Electric toothbrushes and conventional toothbrushes are very difficult to recycle because of the different materials involved and the way that the bristles are fixed into the brush-head. The best advice is to use the heads on your electric brushes for as long as possible.

If you use a manual toothbrush consider buying an eco friendly bamboo one. They are now widely available - even Bodycare stocks them - and are reasonably priced.

Silk and plant-based dental floss is available but plastic flossers and Teepees are wasteful of plastic and difficult to recycle. Keep your old toothbrushes to use for cleaning in hard-to-reach areas. They are great around taps.

Drugs and medical equipment

Pill (blister) packs are difficult to recycle but Superdrug stores with a pharmacy will take them. Nearest branch is in Erdington (High Street, next to the Co-op). Insulin pens can be recycled at Boots and Superdrug branches through the Pencycle scheme.

Plastic Wrapping

Black plastic e.g. ready meal containers are no longer a problem as technology can now recognise them on the recycling line. They must, however, be washed clean. Soft plastic such as bread bags, plastic bags, the film from meat, fruit and veg packaging, crisp bags, biscuit and sweet wrappers can all be recycled at major supermarkets. Rinse the film or plastic if it is dirty.

Pet Food pouches

Pet Food pouches can also go in with soft plastic provided they are rinsed out. Alternatively Pets at Home will take them. However pouches are amongst the most difficult things to recycle so think about going back to tins or plastic containers.

Tetra Paks

Like pet food pouches, Tetra Paks are very difficult to recycle although you can take them to the tip at Norris Way.

It is better to buy milk or juice in a bottle even if it is plastic. You will probably have noticed that many plastic bottles are now being made of much thinner, lighter plastic which reduces the plastic used and also cuts transportation costs.

Pizza Boxes

Pizza boxes can be recycled as long as they are free of food stains.

Tea bags

Many teabags are now sealed with plant based plastics including Yorkshire Tea, Clipper, Co-op, ASDA and Sainsbury's own brands. They are still not great to compost unless your heap gets really hot but can be composted with your green waste.

Clipper have some very good information on their packaging which is all recyclable - no foil wrappers inside the box.

Speaking of composting, the new advice is not to compost but bin those plant based plastic wrappers for papers and magazines as they really don't break down well. However organisations like the National Trust and the RHS seem to be moving to paper.

Plant pots

A number of garden centres are now offering plants in compostable pots but the majority of pots are still plastic. The best thing to do is to keep on reusing them for your own seedlings and cuttings. However if you have too many for your own use ask the Garden Centre if it accepts plastic pots for recycling. Dobbies Garden Centre in Shenstone will take old plant pots and you can also recycle them at the tip. Ask your garden centre why they are still selling plants in plastic pots!

Rubbish Concert

11:00 Saturday 12th November 2022

We are giving a chance for you to listen to those performers who were booked to appear at the Eco Festival but could not make it due to illness.

• Lynts Brass Trio
• Arcus A Cappella Quartet

• Food
• Tea and Coffee
• Children's Activities

Supporting Bin Twinning - A Rubbish Charity enabling Waste Collection, Recycling and and Safe Waste Disposal and promoting Waste Reduction.

Bugs: Good Bad and Ugly

11:00 to 17:00 Saturday 24th September 2022

Activities

• Entertainment: Lichfield Lighthouse Company Singers, Suzuki Violin Group
  Scottish Country Dancing, Brass Trio, Andi Markham - Ventriloquist
• Broswe the stalls
• Ride the 5 inch railway
• Make a bug
• Treasure and Scavenger Hunts
• Eat and Drink - All fired Up Pizza Oven, The Sunshine Bake House, Scout BBQ
  Church Hall: Ploughmans and Hot Drinks
• Bin Twinning

Bring a bug competition   Make a bug out of recycled parts and bring along on the day   Prizes will be awarded based on age and ingenuity

Entrance: Adults £1:00, Children free