Practicing Faith: Caring for Creation

Sharing the stories of how MPLC folks practice their faith

By John Berge

For most of my adult life, I have been opposed to (and appalled by) the excessive use of single-use, disposable items such as the thin plastic bags that every store seems to have adopted. I bring reusable bags to the grocery store — not only the large tote bags, but the small ones from the produce section. I bring reusable metal flatware to picnics to avoid those plastic ones that are usually thrown away after a single use. I return the bags that the newspaper comes in so that the deliverer can use them again. I never use disposable water bottles on the golf course or when hiking. Please excuse my boasting, but I am trying to make a point.

But some time ago I realized that our congregation switched to single-use, disposable communion cups made of polystyrene which cannot be hygienically cleaned for reuse like the previous glass ones. I thought at least these could be recycled. It was a bit of a job to find a recycler; the city refused them and so did most of the other recyclers I contacted. I finally found one in Milwaukee which, although they normally only take pre-consumer plastic waste, agreed to take our communion cups if they were scrupulously cleaned and dried. I have been doing that for years now, even though the water use and time are both uneconomical and possibly unecological. “It’s the thought that counts” and possibly a noble gesture in caring for God’s creation and our health. By the way, it takes about three communion cups to match one grocery bag.

Plastics, whether bags or cups, thrown in the trash and then a landfill will slowly break down and become microscopic particles that can end up in the water table and in our bodies and those of our grandchildren and heirs to our single usage.

In a sense, my concern about where our plastics end up is an atonement for my first job after getting my degree in chemistry. I was one of the first people employed by DuPont to develop the process for manufacturing Dacron® polyethylene terephthalic ester fiber, the same plastic compound marked #1 for recycling. These fibers can break down in landfills to form microplastic particles similarly to those plastic bags and communion cups, but fortunately, only after many, many uses (wearings).

John has been a passionate advocate for creation care for many decades. Previously, he penned a monthly newsletter column for MPLC that highlighted ways to be better stewards of the earth we inhabit. If you share his passion, talk to John about ways you could collaborate!