Yesterday afternoonI paid a visit to the General Assembly. While the assembly week is a great way to meet with my fellow candidates, some of whom have gone on to ordination.
I am concerned about the amount of waste generated by the assembly. As I sat in Rainy Hall, across from the pigeon holes stuffed with leaflets, my table also had a scattering of leaflets, some from the various councils, some from Christian charities, and a couple of leaflets from congregations looking for a new minister. Add into that, a copy of the blue book which, according to my kitchen scales weighs 800 grams, plus all the material generated for Heart & Soul, and the various other events around the assembly, then I believe there will be a couple of kilos of paper waste generated for every person in attendance. So that must be a couple of tonnes of paper waste that even now has been discarded. Whether or not this ends up recycled or in landfill depends on how it is disposed.
How many of these delegates have tablet computers? It is becoming the norm that papers for business conferences are released electronically, so why can't we as the church do this? One person who informed 121 George Street that they would prefer to use the electronic version of the blue book still got a copy sent in the post, with £2.50 for postage.
Can't we at least try to minimise the waste generated by the General Assembly, by abolishing the paper blue book and other documents, and making effective use of current technology? We should not have to accommodate the additional costs and constraints of using paper documents for people who refuse to use established technologies.
And, of course, that Blue Book is sent to every parish minister and interim moderator whether a commissioner or not.
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