How It All Started

In the summer of 2018, Teresa and I embarked on a mind-opening journey to Mwanza (Tanzania). We boarded the plane in Madrid with the goal of not only expanding our personal horizons but foremost with the aim of helping local people in every sense possible to improve the living standards in poorer communities.

As part of the global volunteering community of AIESEC, we have been working with a local microfinance company to provide small businesses in Mwanza with the necessary funds to grow and improve their enterprises through bookkeeping and financial advice. Through this project, both of us learned a lot of things and got to appreciate the Tanzanian culture. But something struck our attention...

Having been spoiled by well-functioning waste collection in Europe, we were shocked by the amount of (plastic) waste that was lying around everywhere. In front of houses, schools, on streets, it was almost impossible to look around without seeing waste. Even animals were eating from the plastic waste and children were playing with it. The problem was easily identified: There was simply not a single waste container to be found. So, instead of trying to find out who is guilty for this disaster we thought:

What can we contribute to solve this problem?

Here is where TRASHEROES comes into play. We created this movement after a lot of brainstorming to make Tanzanian communities both cleaner and greener. In practice, we are installing fixed waste containers in various accessible locations next to educating people about the importance of proper plastic disposal, especially children in schools who can easily adapt new habits. Involving both volunteers and local people to empty bins while expanding the project, we want to ensure the empowerment of the local community to become self-sustaining in terms of waste management. As our time in Tanzania came to an end, we handed over the executive management of the project to Joel, a Tanzanian student who is just as passionate about environmental conservation. For the foreseeable future, we are trying to implement activities that focus on the concept of circular economy such as using plastic waste to produce furnitury and building materials. This would not only reuse waste in productive ways but it would also provide a stream of income to the project. To be continued..

Together we can make it happen. Free the streets!
- Teresa & Max, Founders

Support our project and fund us on  https://www.heroesandfriends.com/projects/trasheroes

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