Sergej Rossel

Director
I am socially committed and have worked with young people as a social educator and fitness trainer for a long time. One day I applied for a volunteer internship. With the aim of strengthening children and young people in their development and offering help where it is most needed. In 2018 I traveled to Ghana for 4 weeks and helped wherever I was needed. However, I discovered that the country was suffering from an increased waste problem. What shocked me more than the poverty itself was the countless mountains of rubbish and how unknown the topic of recycling was. During my stay in Accra, I set out to find a solution for this country… The Plastic pollution problem: In the last 10 years we have made more plastics than we did in the last 100 years. Ascending trend! Half of those plastic products are single-use plastics. About 10 million tons of plastic is dumped into world’s oceans every year. Over 80 percent of ocean plastic comes from the land (Dumps->Rivers-Ocean). Fish, birds & other animals takes small pieces of plastic and microplastics directly, with mostly serious consequences. The e-waste problem: E-waste is the world’s largest growing garbage dump: 50 million tons in 2018 worldwide, increasing every year. Most electronic waste is exported where it is a massive threat to people and the environment. One day I came across the website preciousplastic, where I was able to gain knowledge about expanding a plastic recycling station. With this knowledge and the commitment of volunteers, I want to one day set up a self-sustaining recycling concept at RisingSun.