Creator God, this whole earth is yours, and the fullness thereof.

Yet Lord, we live in such a disposable society.

Everything is always hurry hurry, busy busy. Convenience is king, and plastic queen.

We don’t have time to think, to care, we only have time to buy, use and throw away.

Yet in Your creation, there is no such thing as away. Out of sight and out of mind doesn’t mean something is not creating harm.

The plastic bag or coffee cup we may use for less than five minutes will still exist forever.

Just as every piece of plastic ever made still exists now, and will for thousands of years.

When our waste goes to landfill, it desecrates your sacred earth and contributes to climate change, pushing the poor around the world into deeper suffering.

When we litter, or our waste flies out of landfill, it kills or strangles your creatures.

So we find dead whales, dolphins, turtles and birds on our beaches with their stomachs full of our plastic.

Lord, how is a turtle supposed to tell the difference between a plastic bag and a tasty jellyfish?

Plastic accumulates in our oceans, creating a Pacific Garbage patch the size of Texas and coating the pristine beaches of many remote islands with waste.

And now micro-plastics are even finding its way into our drinking water and thus into our bodies.

This fast use, fast waste system treats us all like we are disposable. We are just buying machines, cogs in a wheel of never ending consumption.  

In this attitude, everything is disposable - us, our bodies, the poor, your world.

Forgive us when we go along with this falsehood. When we do not stand up for the fact that we are more, that you love us more, than this.

Help us instead to value all that you have given us. To value your world and each other over speed and convenience.

Help us to reduce, reuse, rethink, refuse, repair, recover, regift and recycle.

When it all seems to hard, and we aren’t sure what bin to put our bottles, can, plastic or food in, remind us what this is about.

That every aluminium can recycled into a new one saves 95% of the energy it would have taken to make one from scratch.

That every kilo of recycled newspaper prevents a kilo of carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere. That recycling one tonne of paper saves 23,000 litres of water.

That every bit of food waste we compost isn’t producing methane, and instead is becoming useful soil for our gardens.

And when none of this is enough Lord, remind us that recycling is a way of serving You, our God who loves the whole earth and its creatures. It is an act of worship and love for you to make sure we are putting the right items in the right bins.

So strengthen us always to do the right thing. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.