Carmel College Faith Cafe Diverting Compostable Packing Away from Landfill

One of the hallmarks of Catherine McAuley was her ability to engage others in the works of Mercy.  This week a similar example is highlighted at Carmel College in Auckland.  

In 2014, two Carmel College students attended the Australasian Mercy Secondary Schools Student Conference in Melbourne.  They heard about a fair trade cafe that was run at another Mercy school.  Liking the idea, the students returned to Carmel College and established their own Friday morning Faith Cafe selling hot chocolate, coffee, brownie and other treats all made using fair trade ingredients. The proceeds raised from the student efforts support different charities. Six years later the Faith Cafe has gone from strength to strength and even has two Coffee Carts that were designed by the students and staff member who run the Cafe and built by one of the members of the Proprietors Board of the College. As well as opening on a Friday morning, the Faith Cafe now also opens at various school events such as the recent Year 8 Ecofashion Parade that was attended by parents and friends.

Since the start of the Faith Cafe, the students have used takeaway cups that were made from plants. However, it is not easy to compost these cups without a commercial composting plant and so the cups have generally ended up in landfill.  Until today!  To coincide with the staff of the College patronising the Faith Cafe to celebrate the International Good Cup of Tea event, Rachael Neale from Compostaway brought along her specially designed collection box for compostable cups and lids. Compostaway is a nationwide on-demand collection service for compostable cups and lids, ensuring they end up in a commercial composting facility instead of landfill. Rachael demonstrated them to staff and students at the Faith Cafe and followed up with a presentation to the staff. 

Carmel College is committed to using these for the Faith Cafe into the future as a way to put our value of caring for our common home into action and delighted to be working with Rachael to make this possible.  If you would like more information about supporting us in our efforts and sponsoring a Compostaway box to be used at the Faith Cafe next year, please contact Anna Nicholls rsm.

Messages to: Anna Nicholls rsm