A Little Bit Of Time To Make A Difference

As we face economic difficulties, many are looking for inexpensive ways to help out the least fortunate among us this holiday season. Maybe you’ve seen cutbacks at your job, maybe you’re a college student just scraping by, or maybe you’ve even lost your job and need to find something productive to do. If dropping loose change in the bell-ringer’s red kettle doesn’t feel like enough, and the line for volunteering at the local soup kitchen is long enough, here’s an idea.

Strolling through the paved grounds of an apartment complex I lived in, I couldn’t help but notice the excess of beer bottles and beer cans in boxes or trash sacks, sitting just outside so many front doors waiting for the occupant to take the remnants of last night’s good time to the trash. My first thought was “I’m amazed that so many people devote so much to alcohol.” My second thought was “What an amazing waste, these people could probably recoup some of their money if they’d recycle.”

I decided that I would not only recycle for them, but I could donate any money that I received from the recycling center to a good cause. Because I’m pretty reclusive I had initially planned on taking the bottles and cans from people’s doorsteps to be recycled without telling anyone what I was up. But if you want your community to reflect higher ideals, you have to actually get the community involved. (damn that pragmatism!)

I printed out flyers explaining my plan to collect recycling and use the proceeds to sponsor a child through the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging (because of their high marks from charity rating agencies). There would be a sign-up sheet in the managers office and participants could either leave JUST their glass and aluminum containers in a box on their doorstep, or have 10 dollars added to one month’s rent to get a new wastebasket for them to put recyclables in. The wastebasket would have a picture of the child on it, to remind folks to use it only for recycling and not for trash. I would collect the recycling onto a small hitch-trailer daily (a pick-up truck would have worked too), and take it to a processing center about twice per week on my way to work.

It turned out pretty well. Using a sign-up list gave the apartment community a sense of ownership over the decision, and hence made for a higher degree of commitment. People actually participated and did a great job of keeping “trash” and “recycling” separate (since I was the guy taking the recycling to the center – I didn’t want to have dig out old coffee filters or chicken bones, etc.). Not only did this small community have something to stimulate a little piece of unity, but we were taking material that would be dumped in a landfill and using it to help someone else out. Victories on all sides.

Even a few 30 gallon bags of aluminum cans won’t fetch much money; maybe 50 cents per pound. Rates vary from place to place. I would estimate that the apartment complex was home to between 275 and 300 people. Fortunately, they provided just enough recycling material to cover the 30 or so dollars per month required to sponsor a child in Guatemala. I chose to sponsor a child in Guatemala because I just like saying, “Guatemala”. It’s fun to say. Try it.

Gathering and depositing the recycling was not very time intensive; it required less than 10 minutes per day. This is just one example of how a little bit of creativity and a little bit of time can lead to some big benefits. A simple exercise in lateral thinking is all it takes to find your own ways to make improvements in your own community – from the neighborhood and beyond.