Project Wings
History
Story of the foundation
Our team is as diverse as it is determined. We want to give something back to the planet!
Four People and the Desire to Make a Difference
Between 2017 and 2018, Marc, Basti, Leonie, and Erich, met while working for various humanitarian organizations. As face-to-face fundraisers, we traveled across Germany and gained over 12 years of combined experience engaging directly with thousands of people.
Through this work, we realized something many organizations miss: environmental protection is important to people, but it is often not tangible enough to inspire real action.
For us, it became clear: if we truly want to make a difference, we need to make environmental protection understandable, approachable, and socially relevant.
With this goal in mind, the idea to start our own organization was born designed differently, closer to people, and focused on real, practical solutions.
Why Sumatra?
In 2018, Basti traveled to Indonesia to explore how he could take action against plastic pollution and environmental destruction on the ground. Through a friend, he was introduced to Janine, a German living in Sumatra who was already actively addressing the plastic problem.
At her guesthouse, Basti met Anto, who explained the challenges of plastic waste, palm oil plantations, and the struggle for a sustainable future. Observation soon turned into action: together, they developed the Ecobrick deposit system, where plastic is collected, compressed into Ecobricks, and exchanged for compensation.
The system was quickly embraced, creating income while reducing waste. When the guesthouse ran out of space, the Ecobricks were moved to Masno, a local running his own “Green Class.” With him, the vision of a place made from Ecobricks emerged—one that not only reuses waste but also spreads knowledge.
From a journey, a connection, and a few initial ideas, the foundation for the organization was laid.
We must act.
Now it is up to us to make the topic of environmental protection socially acceptable. Together we can achieve great things! Our holistic and scalable projects aim to build the world’s largest recycling village and actively promote animal welfare, nature conservation and education.
In Indonesia and Germany, we are committed to making a decisive difference through our project work. We firmly believe that every contribution counts!
What once began as a small group of four has developed into a colorful, imaginative team in recent years. A wide variety of characters contribute their diverse skills to preserve our planet for future generations.
Let’s act together and change the world!
Short & compact
What have we achieved so far?
Since Project Wings was founded in March 2019, we have already made a lot of progress and achieved numerous goals. Together with volunteers, sympathizers, experts and many supporters from Indonesia and Germany, we have been able to grow strongly to this day. We are constantly trying to develop ourselves further, optimize processes, learn from mistakes and, together with other organizations, pool knowledge and channel solutions.
Today, we have constructed ten significant public buildings around our Recycling Village using sustainable, regional, or recycled materials. Together with local organizations and with the support of the government, we are working to establish the first comprehensive waste management system in the region.
Over 45,000 trees have been planted so far and meaningful animal welfare programs have been implemented. We were also able to get children and young people in many schools in Germany interested in the topic of environmental protection and support our regional orchards. We are constantly trying to develop ourselves further, optimize processes, learn from mistakes and, together with other organizations, pool knowledge and channel solutions.
That’s not it yet!
In which areas are we active?
Animal welfare
Nature conservation
Get to know our team and Wings World.
BECOME A WINGS MEMBER
Support the areas of nature conservation, animal welfare and humanitarian aid with a regular donation.
Thanks to your help, we can make a contribution to environmental protection in Germany and Indonesia!