私は近隣の３０数名からなる環境美化ボランティアのメンバーの一員で、公道（歩道・車道）や公園など）や民家や空家などの草木の剪定・草刈りをやっている。環境美化ボランティアは月１回の活動を行うＡグループ（３０数名）と月１２回ほど活動を行うＢグループ（１３名）から成っており私はBグループで活動している。学区の自治組織であるまちづくり協議会と緊密に連絡を取り合いながら活動するとともに、Ｋ市の予算や幾つかの公私の活動支援財団の財政支援も得て清掃機器具や燃料等を購入している。

　私はボランティアをやる一方、我が家の垣根や庭の草木も剪定・草刈りする必要があり比較的高価（５万円前後）なエンジン始動や電池駆動の草刈り機や剪定機（ヘッジトリマー）をボランティアで借りてやってきた。しかし、近年は高機能のリチウムバッテリーが廉価となってきたことから草刈り機やヘッジトリマーが軽量・割安。静穏となって個人でも買える１～２万円・性能のものが出回っており、私もバッテリー式の草刈り機を１万円で買うことにした。バッテリーと充電器はボランティアが使っているものを我が家でも預かっているので、ボランティアのものと同系統であるＭ社製の草刈り機にした。

　我が家の雑草はK市の指定ゴミ袋１杯程度なので草刈り機の刈込量は大したことはないが、それでも１年に４～５回は処理の必要があるから草刈り機を買うことは妥当と思われる。

 

 

 

　I am a member of an environmental beautification volunteer group made up of about 30 people in my neighborhood, and I am involved in pruning and mowing vegetation around public roads (sidewalks, roads, parks, etc.), private houses, and vacant houses. 　Environmental beautification volunteers consist of Group A (30 people) who do activities once a month, and Group B (13 people) who do activities about 12 times a month.　I am active in Group B. In addition to working in close contact with the town development council, which is the autonomous organization of the school district, we purchase cleaning equipment, fuel, etc. with the budget of K City and financial support from several public and private activity support foundations.

　While I do volunteer work, I also need to prune and weed the hedges and plants in my garden, so I volunteer to rent a relatively expensive (around 50,000 yen) engine-starting and battery-powered mowers and pruners (hedge trimmers). 　I came here. However, in recent years, high-performance lithium batteries have become cheaper, making mowers and hedge trimmers lighter and cheaper. 　There are mowers on the market that cost between 10,000 and 20,000 yen and have high performance that even individuals can buy, and I decided to buy a battery-powered mower for 10,000 yen. 　Since I have the same battery and charger that the volunteers use, I used a mower made by M Company, which is the same model as the volunteer's.

　The amount of weeds in my house is about one full garbage bag designated by K City, so the amount of mowing with a mower is not that big, but I still need to deal with the weeds 4-5 times a year, so I think it's reasonable to buy a mower. .