It's time to swap for a better world

Who is old enough to remember the TV programme Swap Shop?  It was a ground-breaking children's entertainment programme that aired for 3 hours on a Saturday morning on BBC.  It included music, interviews with celebrities, competitions, cartoons and news coverage - but the name of the programme came from the part called the show called the "Swaporama" where children could swap their toys etc with other children.  I very much doubt thinking green and keeping items out of the bin was behind the concept but it was immensely popular and over the 146 episodes must have seen so many items find a new home rather than ending up in landfill.

They say "one man's rubbish is another man's gold" and how often do you think about throwing something out that is of no further use to you but think it must be useful to some-one else?  We need to bring Swap Shop back to the 21st century and make it more than just something for kids to swap their toys etc.  You don't need to be a TV producer, though, and there are plenty of ways to swap items and organise your own swap events.

Swap Ideas

Work swap event

Would you be consider organising a swap event at your work?  A lady I follow (@naturallyjackielane) over on Instagram did this at her workplace in Ottowa with great success ... click here to go to the details over on Instagram:

Set up a book swap

These are springing up all over the place.  In Normandy I've seen several in old phone boxes (including this one in an old British red phone box in Aunay-Sur-Odon) but you could make a custom small box or even set up a book exchange in the corner of a pub or café.  We are happy for guests in our gite to swap books from the book shelves and it means by the end of the busy summer period we have some new books to read.

Get your local council to organise a large scale swap event

A friend used to be the recycling officer for a local council. He organised an event where the public could bring all their unwanted items to a local school for swapping and what wasn't re-homed by the end of the day was taken to the dump, sorted and sent off for recycling.  Everything was welcome including rubble and soil down to small household items.  My friend joked that the only things they refused at the swap were animals and children!  Why don't a group of you get together and approach your local council to see if they would run a similar event?

Hobby swaps

Excess seeds, plants and seedlings, produce can all be swapped with fellow gardeners and growers - you could organise this with your local allotment group and open the event up to everyone to ensure as many garden related goods as possible get swapped.

And all sorts of other items could be swapped with like-minded individuals - you could organise similar events with baby and toddler groups for clothes/toys etc, school swaps for uniform/equipment etc, craft group swaps for supplies ... the list is as long as there are hobbies, pastimes and groups of like-minded people.

#1swap

The Midcounties Co-op ran this initiative where shoppers are asked to swap one item in their shopping trolley for one fair trade item.  A simple swap that can have a huge positive impact on small scale farmers around the world. But you don't need to stop there - next week you could swap any one (or more) of any of the following: something organic, something that is plastic packaging-free, something made without palm oil or something in season/local rather than imported/out of season.  You could also choose to make one meal that you usually buy ready made.  You might not be able to make your whole shop perfectly sustainable overnight but several small swaps really do start to make a difference and the more that sustainable items are bought the more their price will come down.  With #1swap you can start making sustainable shopping available for all.

Swap one meat meal for one veggie/vegan one

We all know by now that a more vegetarian/vegan diet is better for the environment than a diet havey in meat and dairy but for many people a straight switch to a plant based diet isn't going to happen - but if we all swapped one meat meal a week for a veggie or vegan one we could make a significant difference.

Christmas 

Christmas does not have to be a hugely wasteful time.  Apparently many lifestyle magazines and influencers encourage people to change their decoration every year and people cite "decorations not matching new decor" as being a reason for buying all new ones. If you really want to change your decorations why not swap with a friend or set up a local second-hand Christmas swap fair. There are so many festive items you could swap: half opened packets of cards or wrapping paper, festive tableware, Christmas jumpers and festive film DVDs for example.

Swapping websites

What-ever you have in excess can most likely be swapped and remember, you can swap goods for services, skills and even holiday homes!  Maybe you could find presents for friends and family through one of these swapping websites:
 
www.swapz.co.uk Swap site for various goods and services. Just get imaginative with what you can offer and how you want "paying".
www.swapcycle.co.uk and www.swapitshop.com Goods for exchange.
www.whatsmineisyours.com Clothes and accessories.
www.swishing.org Organise a clothes swap party with friends.
www.gardenswapshop.co.uk/ For gardeners who have seeds to swap.
www.readitswapit.co.uk Book-swapping site.
www.u-exchange.com Houses all over the world available for holiday exchanges.
www.letslinkuk.net Community networks which link people who want to swap their skills and goods.

You can also use local selling sites such as Gumtree, Ebay, Facebook Market Place to swap rather than sell/buy

Can I tempt you to make a swap this week ... and next week ... and maybe the one after that too? It should have minimal impact on you but together our swaps can have a hugely beneficial impact on the environment.  Swapping also reduces the emphasis on everything having a monetary value so it places more significance on our environment as opposed to our bank balances.  This can only be a good thing for the planet where capitalism and excess consumerism have led us to where we are now.

It's time to swap for a better world.  What will you swap today?

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