Lenten experiment with plastic

         For lent this year our family decided to give up plastic, especially one-use plastic since it has become such a huge problem for our oceans and our environment.  I made this decision because I kept wondering how the Lenten disciplines of doing something that increases only personal devotion really touches all of those we are called to love equally with ourselves.  I felt that we needed instead to do something good for the world, no matter how small.  While this was the impetus, as with almost everything we do for others, I have found that I have been the one to gain the most through the learning, alone, that has come from this Lenten experiment.
         We are only half way through lent at this point, and yet the challenge of trying to extricate ourselves from plastic use has been almost impossible.  What I have learned is that plastic is all around us, in almost everything.  As a result, this one simple choice to try to avoid plastic has in fact been the hardest spiritual discipline I've yet tried.
        Beginning with food:  We found that much of the prepackaged food we are used to eating was completely off the list for lent.  I'll separate this out by food groups:
        Carbohydrates: Cereal, while boxed in cardboard, always has a plastic lining between the carboard and the cereal itself.  The exception was oatmeal, but even that came with a plastic lid. Friends suggested the bulk bins.  Two problems for us: the first was that the bags by the bulk bins were, again, plastic. We could bring in our own paper bags, though this was not appreciated by the grocery check out people.  The second was that the cereal selection was mostly limited to granola or mussily, neither of which are appealing to my kids.  Crackers, likewise, all came with plastic somewhere in the packaging.  The one exception we found to this was Goldfish crackers, which have become a bit of a staple for the kids during this time.  Pasta often is also packaged in cardboard: but almost all of it comes with a little plastic window so that you can see the pasta inside.  Breads and bagels - all sliced bread and prepackaged bagels came in plastic.  But we soon found that we were able to buy freshly baked bagels and breads directly from the bakery and put it in our own bags or in paper bags.
        Proteins:  This was, in many ways, even harder.  We are a dairy family.  We love our milk, our yogurt, our cheeses.  We could buy smaller containers of milk in cardboard (half gallon, when we usually buy full gallons of milk: about 5 a week!), but the only brand that did not have a plastic top was Clover, which is very expensive.  We looked for glass milk bottles and did find some in a health food store, and yet even those bottles had plastic lids.  Yogurt and cheese?  Nope.  Out for lent.  I simply could find no yogurt or cheese that was not packaged in plastic.  Some of our family are meat eaters.  We found we could go to the meat counter and ask for meat to be cut and prepared and wrapped in paper.  But we could not simply buy chicken or fish or any other kind of meat in any other way.  All of the prepackaged meat was wrapped in plastic.
        Fruit and Veggies: this was by far the easiest.  We have our own bags that we bring in for fruit and vegetables.  However, there were still limitations.  Cherry tomatoes were out.  So were berries.  Also, while I understand that Trader Joe's has now made a commitment to lessening plastic packaging, so far our local Trader Joe's has not made those changes.  So we can't shop there for our produce during lent.
        Other products were equally challenging.  My cats are extremely picky, I realize, but finding dry cat food that did not come in plastic that my cats would actually eat was a complete fail.  Likewise, we've been trying to get away from some of the cat litters that have so much dust and tracking problems.  But the alternatives all came in plastic.
       When it comes to bathroom and cleaning products, the challenges were even greater.  Toilet paper, shampoo, conditioner, soap dispensers for laundry, dish, hands and body, feminine hygiene products, toothpaste, deodorant:  all of it comes in plastic.  With some serious research, I was able to find products I could order on-line for most of these things.  There is a company that makes toilet paper out of bamboo (grows faster and is therefore more renewable) that also wraps the paper in bamboo packaging.  I also found a company that makes shampoo, conditioner and deodorant that comes in a bar form and therefore can be packaged in cardboard.  I am trying that out and will let you know how that goes.  There are also alternatives to laundry soap and dish soap.  Many companies advertise that they are "better" in terms of their plastic use but in fact they aren't.  One, for example, states that it produces less plastic waste by sending you a glass bottle and then liquid soap to fill the bottle in plastic bags.  Those plastic bags are still plastic, so I'm not sure who they think they are fooling.  All of this required research and ordering from companies that don't sell their products in local stores.  The toothpaste alternatives, as well as most household cleaning alternatives mostly seem to involve making your own products. Cleaners are mostly baking soda and vinegar.  There are tooth powders, yet, interestingly, almost all still came in plastic, which made me question the point.  Also the textures of these alternatives (and the concern over a lack of fluoride in the toothpaste) were really distasteful.  Still, it challenged me to think about how far I was willing to go with this, even just for lent.
         Other things were just not an option.  I could not find batteries, for example, without plastic packaging.  While there are alternatives to toothbrushes and hair brushes, on most the bristles still appear to be plastic, even when the backs are bamboo or wood.  Razors are mostly plastic, or have plastic components.. they all come packaged in plastic.  Antibacterial cream comes in plastic.  While you can buy spices in glass, they all seem to have a plastic top under the metal lid.  My children are no longer packing their lunches into plastic bags, but the alternatives we've been using are the Tupperware (plastic) in our cupboards.  Better, but still plastic. One more helpful site: here.
        Mostly, the experiment is requiring a change of lifestyle.  For example, when we had my daughter's birthday party, we needed to use real plates because all paper products are packaged in plastic. This might be a no-brainer, except it meant spending a good part of the party washing already used dishes so that there would be enough for the next "course" of whatever the kids were eating.   I've found it necessary to carry in my purse my own mug and my own metal straw (not that straws are ever really necessary) so that when I eat out with friends or even attend meetings at other churches, I can still drink without using a plastic cup.  I went to a day long conference and needed to think through food ahead of time because I knew they'd be bringing in food mostly in plastic containers, with plastic utensils.  For that day, a set of utensils also went into my purse.  Web-sites that encourage limiting plastic use say we should bring our own containers to restaurants for left-overs.  At that point, my purse was just too big to carry!
      As I said, we are only half way through lent.  I will continue to explore alternatives and let you know at the end of the best products we find.  It's been a good challenge for all of us to really look at our plastic use.  Not easy, but good.  The challenge of picking something for lent that actually serves something bigger than ourselves has been great.  I hope that next year we can come up with something equally challenging, eye-opening, and hopefully even more helpful to the earth.