Renunciation Is the Practice of Detachment From Desires

No more plastic!

When I set an intention at the beginning of the year to cut down on the use of plastic in my home and life, I was primarily thinking about developing better habits around the simple stuff – bringing grocery bags with me to the store, bringing my own water bottle with me, etc.

But I started researching alternatives to plastic and suddenly plastic is all I see. So I decided to take on a more comprehensive effort – to systematically go through my home and life and find alternatives for as much plastic as possible.

I should say that I have gotten a huge amount of insight and helpful suggestions from Beth Terry’s amazing website myplasticfreelife.com. Beth became an accidental activist (as she puts it) when she became overwhelmed by pictures of plastic trash in our oceans, and decided to eliminate plastic from her life to the greatest extent possible. Her website has advice, product reviews, analysis of what works and doesn’t work and why, and ways to connect personal practice to systemic change.

There are so many reasons to try to diminish our use of plastic that is seems almost impossible to catalogue them all, but here are a few that are particularly motivating to me:

• Plastic is a petroleum product so the more plastic we use, the more we are supporting the extractive economy which is going to increasingly dangerous lengths to extract oil from the earth. The costs of extraction and climate change are both disproportionately borne by communities of color, so if you want to end white supremacy and support racial justice, plastic is one place to start. 
• We don’t actually know if plastic is safe for all the food-related functions it performs.
• Plastic is forever! A plastic bottle can take anywhere from 450 – 1000 years to biodegrade. And most plastic goes into landfills where the lack of air and light means it may not biodegrade at all. And while some plastic is recyclable, very little plastic ever actually finds a new use.
• Plastic debris and refuse is killing our oceans.

And beyond all that, lots of plastic is single use – water bottles, grocery bags, straws, the lid to your starbucks coffee cup. It may or may not ever go into the recycling stream. It will probably sit in the landfill forever. What a waste.

While I am personally motivated at a low level about the health impacts of plastic, I am much more concerned with the larger social and environmental impacts. So I’m not throwing away everything I own that is plastic. I’m still using the plastic cups and Tupperware and plastic utensils I’ve had for years. I hate waste and I can’t bring myself to just throw it away. But I am hoping to identify alternatives to replace that stuff with over time.

Meanwhile, my approach to reducing the plastic in my life has three components:

• Reinforce good habits that circumvent single-use plastic. That means consistently carrying grocery bags and water cups, but also avoiding plastic silverware and no more buying diet soda in plastic bottles. Beth Terry says she just stopped getting things she wanted if they involved single-use plastic. If she forgot her coffee cup, for example, she just didn’t get coffee. I’m trying this now and it is super hard but I hope that having to go without will help me remember!
• As I run out of things around the house, try to find non-plastic alternatives. Right now, we are running low on shampoo, so I’m trying to figure out hair and skin-care options that don’t involve plastic.
• Divide my life into manageable pieces, and systematically review plastic usage in each one. These seem like the obvious categories: bathroom stuff, cleaning products, food and grocery shopping, pet care, travel. I’ll try to tackle one each month and see what new products I can find and new habits I can create.

* * * * *

This month is bathroom month. Here’s a list of what we tend to use in the bathroom that involves plastic, and what I think I can do about it:

(skip down to the bottom if you don’t care about my catalogue)

Shampoo/conditioner – There seem to be two options – buy shampoo in bulk sizes, so at least we don’t use as much plastic per use, or get shampoo and conditioner in bar form. I looked at the bulk options and I wasn’t super impressed. I am very sensitive to scents, so the idea of buying a gallon of shampoo I might not be able to use didn’t thrill me. For now, I’m sampling bar shampoo and I’m also going to try the no-shampoo method, which actually seems like the most promising option.

Body wash – Replace with bar soap. I realized I have to find bar soap that doesn’t come wrapped in plastic. We have a good supply of fancy artisanal soaps that were gifted to us over the years, which I’m putting into the rotation as the body wash runs out, but they’re all wrapped in plastic! So when it comes time to shop for more soap, I need plastic-packaging-free options. Whole Foods sells soap by weight and it is packaged in a brown paper bag and I’m keeping my eyes open for others.

Face wash – about two years ago I started making my own using this recipe and this one. Some of the ingredients come in plastic – like the essential oils – or they come in glass bottles with plastic tops. I’m going to figure out if I can find options that don’t come in plastic.

Moisturizer – I have no idea what to do here. I am very attached to my current moisturizer which comes in a plastic bottle. I’m going to write to the company and see if they have options that don’t use plastic packaging. But if not, I will have to start researching other options, including the possibility of making my own. I am not excited about this – I have very sensitive skin and it took me a long time to find a moisturizer that could deal with my needs. So we’ll see.

Plastic body sponge/scrubber – eventually replace with loofah

Razors – I can’t find any alternatives for now!

Toothpaste – I’m trying out some tooth powders made with bentonite clay and essential oils from Aquarian Bath. So far it seems workable, if a bit weird. (My first shipment from Aquarian Bath was like a plastic-hater’s dream: paper tape, cardboard box, paper packing material. At another time in my life I wouldn’t even have noticed but now that I’m paying attention I wanted to scream out – YOU GET ME!).

Toothbrushes – Apparently, there aren’t great alternatives. It seems like the bamboo and wooden toothbrushes tend to not be vegetarian (boar bristles). So for now, we are stuck with plastic toothbrushes.

Toilet paper – we bought a huge supply of toilet paper from Who Gives a Crap. It is made from bamboo and ships without any plastic – the rolls are wrapped in paper and come in cardboard. So that’s success #1!

Kleenex – Kleenex boxes have those little strips of plastic around the opening. When you buy multiple boxes at once, they are often shrink-wrapped together with plastic. I also buy a lot of the small purse-sized packets because I blow my nose about 20 times a day. I know it would be more eco to use handkerchiefs, but I don’t really get how that will work. I can’t carry 20 handkerchiefs in my bag and I don’t know what I’m supposed to do with the used ones, especially when I am on the road. So for now we are stuck with the boxes. I bought a big supply of Kleenex from Who Gives a Crap also, so at least that avoided the plastic wrapper. Maybe eventually I will just “make my own” by bringing squares of toilet paper everywhere with me. But for now, we’re using the boxes.

That’s the first month of trying to cut down on plastic. I’m so happy to say that my spouse has embraced this effort as well and happy to start avoiding plastic in her own spheres. And gamely willing to try all the new stuff I’m proposing. No question it will cost money to make this transition and some of the choices we make will be influenced by the budget. But we are going to do our best.

One thing Beth Terry really emphasizes is that there is NO GUILT here. Guilt is not helpful. Change is needed, change is important. And guilt is not the best motivator for making change. Our entire worlds are shaped by the use of plastic and it takes a lot of effort and planning and intention to avoid it. So nothing in my blog or my practice is meant to make other people feel guilty for whatever plastic you consume. We are all making hard choices in our complicated lives. I am thinking a lot about the Buddhist exhortation that the only reason to take action is that you are willing. I'm willing to try this. It doesn't make me better or others worse. It's where I can put my energy right now. 

Rather than act out of guilt, I am trying to think of this as a meditation. It is a way to take time every day to think about my values, why I care about ahimsa and make choices that reflect them. It doesn’t mean I won’t fail or live with inconsistencies. But I am making the effort. Already there have been successes and failures. My first work trip of the year I found myself with bottled diet soda and a fast food salad in a plastic box. Fail! This weekend, though, I remembered to tell the server at our dinner place not to bring us straws – which they do automatically – Success!

* * * *

This weekend, there I was pulling out my yoga sutras for a quick refresher on something, and I stumbled on:

 1.15 Renunciation is the practice of detachment from desires.

“When non-attachment and detachment are learned there is no craving for objects seen or unseen, words heard or unheard. Then the seer remains unmoved by temptations. This is the sign of mastery in the art of renunciation.” (BKS Iyengar commentary)

The commentary talks about how you start to detach from desires through willpower, but over five stages of practice, desires burn away. Ultimately, all the senses turn away from desire for objects and that introduces the possibility of transcendence. In the final stage, the seeker transcends the gunas completely and resides outside the web of desires.

I have already noticed some of these effects coming with the renunciation of plastic. Over and over again I have to ask myself if I want something badly enough to put more plastic in the world – when I want a diet soda in the airport; when I want to buy a coffee but haven’t brought my cup; when I want to order something online but I think it will probably be shipped in plastic. It turns out, so far, I don’t really want those things when I consider the full cost. It doesn’t actually feel like willpower, it feels like the desire itself is ebbing. I’m sure this isn’t a linear or seamless process, but the sense of focus and purposefulness is very gratifying.

With love, gratitude and solidarity forever.