Notice Green Efforts at St. James' Cafe

WHY WE COMPOST:

Guests are encouraged to only take the food that they can eat, but sometimes there are a few leftovers. The large plastic tub marked “Compost” is intended for both kitchen waste and uneaten food. Please leave your crusts in that tub, not the trash can. You can leave your wooden coffee stirrers in the tub, too.

Why? The answer is chemistry. While carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas, methane is more than 25 times as potent. When organic material/food waste goes into the landfill to decompose in a closed environment without oxygen, it deteriorates differently from outdoors. It produces methane. Perhaps you’ve seen the “candy cane” type structures at landfills—these are to release the methane from underground into our atmosphere. https://www.epa.gov/gmi/importance-methane

Composting both at St. James’ and at home is extremely important (and provides wonderful gardening soil in the process).

WHY WE USE COFFEE FROM A SUSTAINABLE SOURCE:

While more expensive, St. James’ uses Equal Exchange Coffee’s Organic Breakfast Blend at all its events. This is coffee that is grown in a sustainable way with fair compensation to the small farmers who grow the beans.

WHY WE WASH OUR MUGS:

St. James’ kitchen teams prefer to wash the dishes rather than add many pounds of paper and plastic items to the landfill. Give them a high-five and a thank you when you next see them!

‍