How Timebanking Can Help with Recycling
Those that know no better tend to view timebanking purely on its concept. The transferring of time for credits rather than money. While it is true that a time bank will allow people to do some work for others in exchange for credits they can then spend on something they need done too, the benefits go far deeper than just helping our neighbors.
Time as a currency or timebanking has been used for so many wider causes. It has been used to develop communities, battle mental health, reduce isolation and improve the health of older people, and to rehabilitate former criminals who have served time. The list goes on and on too, but in this article, we are going to talk about how timebanking can help with recycling.
In a previous post, we already spoke of the importance of recycling for both the planet and future generations. Now, we want to talk about how timebanking can help us help bring awareness to the need to recycle more, how it can facilitate an increase in recycling in communities, and the many examples where timebanking has already had an impact in this area.
How Your Time Bank Can Help with Recycling
If you run or are a member of a time bank, you are in a position to improve the recycling in your community. Your time bank could set up initiatives to really bring increased awareness to the importance of recycling or go a step further and actually take some action that directly contributes to the levels of recycling done in your community.
Educate
From knocking on people's doors to offer recycling information, advice, guidance, and persuasion to approaching schools asking for an audience with the children, there is a lot that your time bank can do.
Whether you have teachers in your group, speakers or anyone that wants to help, you can share your skills in the time bank to come up with plenty of educational material. It would not take your active members long to do a bit of research, educate themselves, and thus become more of an authority on the subject of recycling.
If you can earn your time credits to educate all on the benefits of recycling and the dangers of not, you will make a positive impact on your community. Let the children know that littering the streets affects water quality and traps or kills animals. Educate adults with facts such as recycling is better for the economy than using landfills, or that it creates millions of much-needed jobs.
Use your time bank to educate people to change and it will benefit us all in the long run!
Take Action
Education is a great way to convince or persuade others to do their part, but another angle you could take would be to get involved in initiatives yourselves. You could work with local recycling charities or organizations, or even on your own to arrange and encourage members of the public to take part in recycling activities.
Perhaps you could organize public beach or park cleanups or arrange a children’s arts & crafts activity that helps to educate them whilst only using recycled materials. Maybe you could oversee a project involving the construction of a building that was built purely of recycled materials? We are sure that you could use your creativity to come up with many other wonderful ideas. Your time bank members, paid in time credits, could run and oversee these initiatives.
Examples of Time Banks That Helped with Recycling in Their Communities
The West Wight Time Bank in the UK is one splendid example of how timebanking can help with recycling. Running a bring a bottle refill scheme, the members of the time bank are receiving time credits, which they can later spend when they need something done themselves. Rather than thrown in the trash, they refill the public’s empty plastic bottles with laundry liquid, fabric conditioner, shampoo or conditioner.
Littlebank Time Bankers also did their part for their community by educating and bringing awareness to recycling. They persuaded 40 local residents to join them on a litter pick that collected over 100kg of litter. That is a magnificent achievement that not only directly helped the community but also educated it on the importance of recycling. That is 40 more people that will probably recycle as much as they can going forward.
Now that you have seen a couple of examples, why not become one yourself? If you run a time bank or a member of one, why not raise the issue of recycling with all other members to see what you can do for your community? You never know, you might just get a mention in a future blog post here at Nomos.
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