Projects – Project Wings gGmbH

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The Ecobrick Deposit System

WASTE BECOMES VALUABLE

Imagine having to take care of your trash all alone.
A challenge that millions of people living in Southeast Asia / along the equator have to face every day.
Therefore, it should not be surprising that you see more plastic waste than beautiful beaches and healthy rainforests on the news.

In 2018 Project Wings introduced the idea of Ecobricks to Bukit Lawang: People earn money by bringing us their plastic waste.

For this, they collect plastic waste and stuff it into PET bottles after cleaning and drying it. Afterwards, they can bring their so-called Ecobricks to our recycling garages or Masno’s Green Education Café. For every plastic brick weighing about ½ kg they are given 5.000 IDR (= a warm meal, about 30 Cent).

CIRCULAR WASTE MANAGEMENT

Plastic gets a counter-value, helps people earn an additional income and at the end, is isolated by using it as building material. In cooperation with the Hochschule Münster and the FH Koblenz, our construction engineer (David Heitmann) developed a sustainable construction concept. This way, by building the biggest recycling village in the world, about 250 kg plastic waste will be removed from the environment and isolated inside of walls.

Since 2019, this is what it looks like in Bukit Lawang: Twice a week, the region’s waste is collected separately and brought to Erna’s Farm (organic waste) and the newly built Trashbank (other waste).

Learn more here: “PLASTIC“

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The biggest recycling village in the world

By the end of 2021, the largest Recycling Village in the world will be standing, made from half a million Ecobricks. 250 tonnes of plastic waste will be built into the walls of the different buildings and isolated so that it can no longer put strain on the surrounding environment.

A village that helps twofold!

The goal of Project Wings is to leave behind a self-sustaining system the locals can lead themselves. With that, the village generates an income. Many different structures have been proposed which are sensible economically as well as environmentally.

The Green Education Centre serves as a free classroom space for further education but also can be used by other schools and classes. Many schools don’t have enough space and are lacking the technical facilities. You’ll be able to find the Green Library, a computer room and a fully equipped classroom in the Green Education Centre.

In order to be able to offer children and young people in the area to develop freely, every Monday and Thursday children under 18 will be able to visit the village and are allowed to use every facility free of cost. The other days are accessible for adults and other visitors. Almost 150 new jobs will be created in and around the village.

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Our holistic approach

RAINFOREST ANIMALS PLASTIC Humans

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Protecting the rainforest

JUNAS ID

“You can save the environment with your hands.” With this resolution a group of four young people founded the Indonesian environmental protection organization JUNAS. JUNAS focuses on the internal problems of our ecosystem and finds simple, yet efficient solutions: planting fruit trees and educating young people!

Because of the massive deforestation over the course of the last 40 years, herbivores as well as carnivores have more and more difficulties finding enough food.

In order to restore this sensitive balance inside the ecosystem, JUNAS plants fruit trees especially in the “buffer zone”.

This way, they support biodiversity, create valuable habitats and nutrition sources for the animals and give the people the opportunity to generate an additional income with the harvest of the trees, as well.

With this approach they want to achieve a long-term reduction of the number of newly-planted oil palms. Together, JUNAS and Project Wings organize the reforestation campaign “One Million Fruit Trees” and show young people simple ways to support our planet.

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GENERATION CO

A community in the heart of Simolap, right by the healing and soothingly warm sulfur springs. There, at the edge of the national park the French Virginia and Helena fell in love with the country and its people and short handedly decided: We want to help here! Since then, they have been approaching e.g. plantation owners and educating them on the effects and disadvantages of monocultures such as palm oil cultivation. Their goal is the step-by-step transition to a permacultural / less harmful way of cultivation that includes animals’ needs for habitat and food, as well. With the help of compost (Erna’s Ecofarm), old and “unusable” plantations are enriched with nutrients and reforested gradually.

This way, Generation Co does not only support the conservation of this special place but of the surrounding nature, as well. Volunteers can dive into this dreamy idyll of nature, learn about the native plants and their effects and after a short trip, know which plants they can take home.

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ERNA’S ECOFARM

The members of our project lovingly call Erna “The Tree Mother”.

On her farm children from the neighborhood buzz around, locals and tourists take part in her popular cooking classes and women empowerment courses and everywhere there are trees, bushes and fresh seedlings sprouting. Erna and her husband, Papi, have devoted themselves to sustainable, traditional agriculture. This is why they are the ideal addition to our recycling system. Nearly every day she accepts the region’s organic waste, shreds it in her compost machine and with the help of black soldier flies and XCUZ, she produces high quality and nutritious compost from it. This way, the waste’s valuable nutrients are preserved and can be used for reforestation programs, permaculture gardens and renaturation.

Thanks to her engagement in the region, Erna is connected well and loves to share her diverse and extensive knowledge with others. The tree adoption program is in her care because one thing is clear: Erna does not only have a green thumb but a big, devoted heart, as well.

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ANIMALS / ANIMAL PROTECTION

RANGER PATROL

With the help of education, integration and support of the local community as well as various conservation programs, Arie, Dedy and Pacolok search for sustainable solutions in order to protect and conserve endangered species.

This is why Project Wings financed the training and equipment of the ranger patrol of three in 2019. Since then, we have been supporting Care Sumatra monthly in order to patrol the buffer zone, remove traps, install camera traps for observation, contain illegal poaching and find peaceful solutions to the human-animal-conflict. Orangutans, Sumatran tigers and many other endangered animal and plant species are being observed carefully for the development of effective solution strategies.

For this, they patrol the buffer zone for 14 days a month and are ready to help farmers and locals in case of a tiger attack or similar emergencies. Together, they develop peaceful solutions for humans and animals in order to guarantee a harmonic living together for both sides.

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ANIMAL AID

In Muslim culture dogs are often seen as unclean. Still, they are “man’s best friends” and watch over the homes of many residents in our project region as well. As the majority of people over there cannot carry the costs of sterilisation, deworming treatments, vaccines or flea shampoo, the dogs are reproducing rapidly and often do not find a home.

Conny has taken to these loyal beings and together with Rudi and Hendra, looks after them in an appropriate and loving way. The pack of about 40 dogs has already been castrated, sterilised, dewormed, vaccinated and been freed from the fleas. A number of the dogs have been saved from the meat market.

Further, Rudi and Hendra visit other dog owners and provide them with free medicinal care for their dogs.

Right now, they look for families with young school kids, who love dogs and are willing to adopt one, in and around Bukit Lawang. In exchange, the school fees plus the materials are paid for.

Project Wings supports Conny, Rudi and Hendra with their work by financing the staff’s wages as well as the rent for the “dog-garden”.

Learn more about Conny’s initiative here.

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PLASTIC / RECYCLING

SUMATERA TRASHBANK

On an old landfill Anzala’s dream is taking form: Soon, his home region Bukit Lawang will recycle nearly 100% of its waste! In order to ensure an effective waste management he built a trashbank with Project Wings in 2020. The Sumatera TrashBank is the key point of our recycling system: BLG and Destana (the two garbage disposals) deliver the region’s waste there regularly. Of course, villagers are welcome to bring their trash independently, as well, and can exchange it for money. This way, the people can learn that especially plastic waste has a value as well as a further purpose. When new waste arrives at the trashbank, the different materials are divided, cleansed and dried. Various companies buy the pressed blocks of plastic waste in order to recycle bigger amounts of cleaned materials and reuse them in new manufacturing processes.

The trashbank is the most important part of our recycling system and opens totally new opportunities for the region and its people in regard to waste recycling.

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GARBAGE DISPOSAL

A recycling system without garbage disposal is like an Ecobrick without plastic waste. This is why Destana and Bukit Lawang Green exist. They take care of the waste of the three regions our project includes: Gotong Royong, Perumahan and Bukit Lawang, of course. BLG (Bukit Lawang Green) collects the organic waste twice a week and delivers it to Erna’s Ecofarm. There it is processed into compost in order to use its valuable nutrients for permaculture gardens and reforestation programs. Destana is in charge of plastic, paper and residual waste. They collect the other waste and deliver it to the newly built Sumatera Trashbank.

With the help of various vehicles they drive to the three regions, install public trash cans, educate on their usage and purpose and free the people of their responsibility for the waste. This way, the locals are no longer forced to deal with the waste disposal on their own.

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MONDAY CLEAN UP

We love Mondays!

Since 2020 the Project Wings Team has been coming together with the cooperation partners and locals every Monday in order to free Bukit Lawang and the region of plastic waste! For this, they focus on one area per week and work gradually towards a clean environment. The type of the cleanup depends on the terrain: From river cleanups to ones at the side of roads and in forests.

Afterwards, the collected waste is brought to the Sumatera Trashbank. Here, the different types of waste are separated and cleaned while some are dried as well.

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GREEN CLASS

Together with his son, Imam, Suriono Masno founded the “Green Class” in 2016. With the help of other voluntary teachers they give about 120 children and teens the opportunity to playfully learn about environmental issues. By having field trips, meetings with other classes as well as visits from our partners, the kids learn how to take care of our planet responsibly. In the newly built Green Education Center current problems are explained and useful recycling techniques are discussed and tested.

Each week, the kids can take part in all the activities and an additional English course free of charge. The new knowledge is carried by the children to their parents and is gradually being manifested and integrated into their everyday life. Thanks to the additional opportunity to learn English for free, the kids’ job chances are increased.

The Green Class’ goal is the sensibilisation and finding of solutions for a variety of environmental challenges – for children as well as adults.

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HUMAN

GREEN CLASS

The Green Class’ goal is the sensibilisation and finding of solutions for a variety of environmental challenges – for children as well as adults.

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ECOBRICK DEPOSIT SYSTEM

In fall of 2018 Project Wings took off with one, simple question: “How can we motivate people to pick up their trash instead of getting rid of it in various ways?”.

Ecobricking is a dead easy technique that allows compressing and giving plastic waste a new form. For this, soft and often thin plastic waste coming from the households, rivers and forests is collected, cleaned and dried. Then, the foils, packaging and bags are stuffed into PET bottles with the help of a stick. This process is repeated until the stuffed bottles become solid and weigh around 500g – the result: an Ecobrick. In simple terms: Ecobricks are plastic bottles that are being stuffed with often non-recyclable plastic waste (e.g. mixed plastic such as aluminium plastic mixes) until they are stable and solid.

Since 2018, people from and around Bukit Lawang have been receiving 5.000 IDR per processed Ecobrick. In Germany, this converts to just about 30 cents while it corresponds to a whole meal in Indonesia.This way, the Ecobrick deposit system grants every local, who wants to create something for not only themself but the whole world too, an additional income!

In 2020, already more than 102 families took part in the Ecobrick program.

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PERMACULTURE

What is permaculture? Unlike a monoculture, permaculture creates a self-sustaining ecosystem that does not rely on chemical fertilizers or pesticides.

Diverse plants are positioned to support each other (e.g., provide shade, attract bees, exchange nutrients).

So a permaculture garden is suitable for anyone who wants to get a lot of variety and yield from their garden with little work! In our garden we mainly grow food, fruits and vegetables. A few spices and ingredients for the production of other products also find their place here.

We are very enthusiastic about the concept! The permaculture garden is developing splendidly and is located right next to the recycling village. The first yields (corn, peanuts, Butterfly Pea Flower, chilies and more) have already been harvested. Everything that grows here will be available on the plate in the Culture Kitchen of the recycling village in the future.

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REGIONAL

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Project days at educational institutions

By working together with different educational establishments, we are reaching the younger generations. These form an important pillar of our system when it comes to the topic of environmental protection.

We are regularly visiting schools and designing project days and weeks together. Therefore, the children and young people already learn from a young age what ´environmental protection´ fundamentally means. With help from interactive lectures, numerous workshops and strong school projects, the children quickly get to know the various ways to act more environmentally aware.

We act with children and young people on equal terms and show why we need to help our planet in an age-appropriate manner. For this, we have drafted a concept which provides educational establishments and adults an initial outline. Next to the project days we are also conducting individual teaching-units and are represented at school events.

Donate your pledge and recycle half a kilogram of plastic waste!

On request, we can create deposit-containers with the students which will be set up in the school. For every deposit-bottle thrown in, we can buy an Ecobrick in Indonesia. On the one hand this will see half a kilogram of plastic waste collected from the rainforest, whilst at the same time someone can get a hot meal from this money.

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REGIONAL COMMITMENT

KOTTENHEIM MEADOW ORCHARD LTD

With the support of the meadow orchard in Kottenheim (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany) we support the preservation of flora and fauna locally. Meadow orchards are habitats worth supporting, as well as being a home for various types of animals and plants. Consequently, we are creating a safe area of living with sufficient food, especially for bees, our most important pollinator. The meadow orchards in the Kottenheim area have a huge population within Rheinland-Pfalz. In a long-term project, volunteers were recruited to revive the cultivation of fruit trees. For the salvation of the population and planting new trees the costs annually are 20,000 Euros, which the large part is able to be covered by a subsidy.

What the small superheroes have achieved so far:

3.500 m2 of new wildflower meadows have been laid out
164 fruit trees have been planted
482 fruit trees have been tended to

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Contact

Project Wings gGmbH Löhrstr. 87a/b 56068 Koblenz, Germany

info@project-wings.de

Donation account

IBAN DE06570501200000282152

BIC MALADE51KOB

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