Aligned Priorities: Unearthing Sustainability with Compost Nashville & Friends of Warner Parks – A Quarterly Partner Spotlight

I was captivated by the beauty of the trees surrounding me. The orange and green leaves delicately clung to their branches, casting soft shadows that danced with the cool breeze. I felt so lucky to be surrounded by the stunning scenery surrounding Warner Park Nature Center as I walked in to chat with Jessa Tremblay and Jessica Steele about their commercial composting experience with Compost Nashville. Jessica is the Director of Operations for Friends of Warner Parks and Jessa is the Community Engagement Naturalist for all Metro Nashville Nature Centers.

The Allée Overlook. Photo by Trent Rosenbloom

Friends of Warner Parks preserves and protects Percy and Edwin Warner parks just South of Downtown Nashville. Their goal, along with Metro Nashville Parks and Recreation Department is to maintain the natural abundance of the parks and provide educational opportunities. They see partnering with Compost Nashville as a way to educate and live out environmental stewardship practices. They are no strangers to composting practices at the Nature Center, and appreciated that Compost Nashville can accept more than is recommended for a backyard bin.

Jessa: “I’ve noticed people just throw food away and don’t think about what is happening to that food once it reaches its final destination. When I’ve given talks on the subject of food waste people are shocked that 40% of all food is wasted and turning into gases and polluting our air and just not benefitting anyone or anything. So the more people we can encourage to at least start composting, the better – because if we can recapture some of those nutrients and put them back into the soil, we’ll have a happier, healthier world in the end.”

Warner Parks Nature Center recently celebrated its 50th Anniversary and it has always been their mission to help connect people with nature and inspire them to be environmental stewards out in the world. Jessa, Jessica, and I explored the Nature Center campus and the large organic garden that has been maintained since the late 1980’s. Jessa loves when the Nature Center engages the public about the food cycle, how plants grow, and how they can implement sustainable practices in their own lives.

Jessa: “We are trying to educate the public about how we can all take care of the planet together whether that is preserving a beautiful place like this for wildlife or helping convert their own homes into small refuges that are actually good for wildlife. Part of that is accomplished when people attend programing at all of the different nature centers”

Jessa Tremblay (left) and Jessica Steele (right) at Warner Parks Nature Center

Fundraising events hosted by Friends of Warner Parks help to facilitate this insightful programming and maintain the parks for decades to come. I had the chance to speak with Jessica about composting at these events and the difference it has made to their overall success.

Jessica: “We host a lot of events for the park, some of our larger ones include the Full Moon Pickin’ Parties and the Hummingbird Happy Hour, as well as our dinner appreciation event. When we’re hosting these events, our goal is to fundraise for the parks, but we also have to make sure that we are still being environmental stewards during the events as well.”

Part of ensuring environmental stewardship at Friends of Warner Parks events is creating a sustainable volunteer team to help educate and manage the waste stations, which is often an exciting educational opportunity for the volunteers as well as the attendees. All the vendors provide compostable goods which helps avoid contamination and results in more material being diverted. Jessica used her Compost Nashville portal to see how much waste they prevented from going to landfill during their latest event – nearly 1,000 pounds! It’s wild when we think about how beverage cups and plates with some food scraps can amount to such a meaningful amount of material that could serve a much better purpose than taking up space in a landfill. (Especially given Middle Tennessee’s current landfill problem). 

Full Moon Pickin’ Parties fundraiser by Friends of Warner Parks

I asked Jessica and Jessa if they noticed any ancillary benefits from working with Compost Nashville that were unexpected. They said they love how it leads to so many educational opportunities for people of all ages – even showing kids the bins and introducing them to composting when they were previously unfamiliar with the concept.

They get to help create an understanding of “what even is a living thing, and what happens to living things? Do living things decompose? Do the things on their plate decompose?” It opens up their minds to processes they otherwise might not connect with.

Jessa and Jessica were kind enough to share tips and guidance for other organizations who are thinking about composting, but aren’t sure about it. 

“It’s easier than you think and once you incorporate it, it’s very straightforward. There’s something really freeing and nice about not having to fully think about the process and let someone who is an expert take over for you. It often makes the post event tear down run more smoothly because we don’t have to deal with trash. We just lock the bin up and let you handle the rest.” – Jessica

“The great thing about it is you can put any food in the bin so you don’t even really have to think about it too much.” – Jessa

We love composting for Warner Parks Nature Center and Friends of Warner Parks events. If you would like to support Friends of Warner Parks, you can donate on their website or become a sustainability station volunteer at their events. Supporting Warner Parks Nature Center is as simple as just going to the park and enjoying yourself.

Interested in composting at your workplace? Explore how we can help here.

Let us handle your food waste at your next event! Learn more about our event services here.