The Easiest Way! | SDGs | Collecting Bellmark🔔

One of the oldest SDGs in Japan, Bellmark

Let’s take action!!

Recently people start to take action for SDGs, there are a variety of actions. Pick up trash, Three Rs (Recycle, Reuse, Reduce), Use eco-friendly products and so on. If you want to start something but you have no ideas what you do, why don’t you start collecting Bellmarks? Bellmark activity is one of the Japanese traditional SDGs activities!

**Image source from** 公益財団法人　ベルマーク教育助成財団(@bellmark_official) • Instagram写真と動画

1. What is Bellmark?

Bellmark history since 1960

Bellmark action is the activity to support social and educational facilities in a remote region, such as schools, community centres in Kyushu, Hokkaido, Shikoku and so on. And this activity is not only for a remote region but also the area which was attacked by natural hazards. In addition, this action comprehensives the support for Japan and the developing countries. It has started in 1960 as the activity for the 80th anniversary of the founding Asahi-Shinbun(one of the biggest newspaper companies in Japan).

The concept of Bell

Why they have chosen the bell? Because they want to ring the bell of love for friends around the world.

Ring the sound of your love. Image source from (3) ベルマーク教育助成財団 (@bellmarkcafe) / Twitter

2. How can you get the Bellmark?

Sponsors of Bellmark put the Bellmark on their products, so you can find the Bellmark on the product package. Each product has each point and each mark. So you can enjoy finding your favourite marks or collecting the points. You can contribute to supporting educational organizations with fun.

You can find the products on their website: ベルマーク教育助成財団 (bellmark.or.jp)

Sometimes there are no Bellmark points on the packages. For example, you can get the points from the ink cartridge when you replace it. And also you can get points when you contract insurance.

3. How can you use Bellmark?

One point is one yen

If you(usually school or organization) collect the Bellmark and send them to the Bellmark educational foundation, you can save the Bellmark points, and you can use those points to purchase facility equipment as one Bellmark point is one yen. What’s more, ten per cent of the price is donated for the support of the school in the remote area. This point system hasn’t changed since this activity started.

4. It’s the time to change

Easy and Good but Irritate

This Bellmark action is super nice and one of the easiest SDGs activities. But that’s not for everyone. Can you imagine who collects and calculate this Bellmark? If this activity is in the school, PTA usually does it. Most of the Bellmark which children collect are from snacks or school stationery, whose packages are made of plastic. So it’s very difficult to pick them up. And also it’s very hard to count all Bellmarks because there are more than 20,000 Bellmarks if there are 500 kids in school and each kid brings more than 40 points. So it’s one of the biggest school events for parents(Maybe more memorial than their children graduates).

So many schools stopped this activity because of tons of criticism from parents.

**If your nails are long, it could be much harder…**

Need the Digital Transformation

Bellmark educational foundation is preparing the website “Web Bellmark shopping” which makes you available to collect Bellmark with online shops. Before you go to the online shop, you visit this website and click the shop on the list, then you can get Bellmark points based on your shopping price(Each product has a different point rate).

**Image source:** ウェブベルマーク (webbellmark.jp)

I use this website from a couple of months ago, but I don’t still get any points because it takes more than months to reflect the history of shopping. That’s a bit useless. Because I wonder if this is an IT technology! It should be soon to reflect. There is still a lot of headway to make!! I hope they implement QR codes or a kind of application to scan the package of products to get Bellmark points.

Anyway, this Bellmark action is a great idea and helpful for a lot of people. But I hope they make it easier to collect Bellmark points to help more people and keep continuous this great action.