A strong group under a call – this is the best description for a team that has united completely from the bottom up in thyssenkrupp. In order to raise awareness, at the same time to show that environmental alarms are not media foaming at the mouth. If every “user” of the Earth makes their contribution, thanks to small changes supported by knowledge, there is a chance to stop the catastrophe that we are all already beginning to feel. Mirka Konkol, Maciek Lewandowski and Marek Kraska, representatives of #tkVolunteerTeam, talk about the desire to save the world in many ways that are close to us.

A strong group under the call and a thrilling idea. Can you tell me what’s going on?

Marcus: Oh the planet! Understanding what is happening around us, we decided to create a platform that will allow us to share knowledge about ecology.

Maciek: Initially, it seemed to us that we were the only ones interested in the topic. And so, quite unexpectedly, a small idea quickly became a larger initiative – almost 40 thyssenkrupp employees took part in the first meeting.

A big surprise when the hall turned out to be full?

Mirka: Very much, I didn’t expect such a turnout during the first workshop. I don’t think any of us (laughs).

Maciek: This number convinces us that there are many more people around us who care about environmental protection. They are passionate about it and want to share their knowledge, which I find fantastic and promising. I remember that I got involved with minimal knowledge of the subject, because for me ecology was mainly about segregating rubbish (laughs).

Are you all eco-friendly?

Marek: We can introduce ourselves as #tkVolunteerTeam, i.e. a group that was created at thyssenkrupp with the idea of conducting pro-social activities in the form of volunteering. One of the topics that attracted the most interest was ecology. Have we been eco-friendly for years? I have no idea, and it seems to me that each of us started at a different time. It is important that we want to act here and now, because caring for the environment is a very important topic.

Are you planning to change the world?

Mirka: Definitely! We want to have an impact on its shape.

Marek: The question is how the world is evolving and what methods we will adopt. By changing around us, we have an impact on a larger whole.

Mirka: We want to sensitize people, show that environmental alarms are not just media foaming. Each of us makes a contribution and only knowledge will allow us to stop the catastrophe whose beginnings we are beginning to feel.

Was the company a testing ground for change?

Maciek: In general, our goal is broadly understood local ecology. We aim at what we can do at home, in the company.

What can you do?

Maciek: The simplest example is what happened after Eko TK. In the past, in our office, everyone had their own trash, everything was mixed with leftovers. After the eco meeting, we managed to push through the idea to reduce the number of garbage cans by placing a few of them on the floor with markings on what and where to throw them.

Mirka: It helped, and at the same time it forced people to get up from their desks.

Did they curse you for such “conveniences”?

Maciek: There wasn’t even much resistance (laughs). However, it seems that if we had done it before Eco TK, the reluctance could have been felt, because it would have been something totally new, and this is how we managed to connect to the idea of being eco.

Mirka: The workshop helped me decide to go ahead with the proposed changes. At the start, we started with plastic and its types, which we deal with most often.

Can we recognize them?

Mirka: Most often not, just as we don’t realize that the same product can be bought in more valuable plastic. You just need to know about the numbers that are its designation. You can buy natural yogurt, which is seemingly in plastic, because it is actually polystyrene. You can choose the one that will have a two or five on the back and this cup will be bought faster by companies that deal with the disposal and further processing of packaging. During the meeting, we also raised the problem of various types of substances – non-degradable and burdensome to the environment contained in cosmetics for daily body and beauty care and cleaning products.

Was there shock and disbelief?

Mirka: Yes, people had no idea that they were paying a lot of money for a crappy line-up.

Maciek: Mirka has the most knowledge in our team and is also a treasure trove of curiosities. I particularly remember the information about microplastics that can be found in face cosmetics. It seems to us that pure magic, and this is the action of silicones.

Mirka: Yes, we use silicones in face creams. Expensive creams, in addition to a small amount of nutritional composition, contain microplastics, which can remain on the skin for up to three days. The manufacturer tells us that the skin will be smooth and moisturized – but this will not be the result of the action of nutrients, but silicones.

Which topic caught on the most during the workshop?

Mirka: Sorting was the biggest discussion.

Maciek: The discussion was related to what and where to put it.

Mirka: It was about the typical but troublesome rubbish that we deal with every day. What should I do if I have a sausage or cheese package, where to put it. An empty bottle – what about the cap, what about the cardboard. By the way, we have found out together that our overzealousness and excessive accuracy in sorting can be harmful.

How is that possible?

Mirka: Not all rubbish is worth sorting. In many homes, that all the waste goes into one bag and when we stand under the container we start sorting, not paying attention to the fact that in the net in which we have the waste to be recycled, there are greasy packages that will stain the paper material.

So hell has been paved with good intentions?

Mirka: Not so dramatic, but you need to know that your tea wrapper doesn’t end up in the same bag as a yoghurt box, a cream carton and cold cuts paper. For the buyer of waste paper, it will be a damaged raw material.

Grassroots work with a bit of “shovelology?

Marek: The topic aroused a lot of emotions, because people have a lot of good will and want to get involved in sorting. Often, they just lack guidance.

Maciek: We still know that we don’t know much!

Marek: The formula of the workshops was based on the opportunity to benefit from Mirka’s in-depth knowledge and the need to educate herself among herself. Nothing forced, no artificial pumping or coercion, be eco-friendly.

Mirka: It is worth noting that the topic of substitutes that are less burdensome for the environment has aroused an interesting discussion.

What do you mean?

Mirka: Beeswax wraps, i.e. protecting sheets of cotton fabric or canvas with wax, avoiding foil for food protection, replacing disposable packaging with reusable ones. Simple ideas, such as glass straws and stones for refining water, popular in the Czech Republic. People have amazing ideas and it was a treasure trove of exchange of experiences.

Was a bit of inspiration enough?

Mirka: Yes, all it took was a little bit of encouragement.

Marek: In addition to the exchange of experiences, we managed to prepare specific things. Martyna from our team made a demonstration of how to easily prepare everyday products. Dishwasher powder based on soda ash, citric acid and organic oils is much less harmful to the environment than ready-made products offered in stores.

Mirka: The solutions we showed turned out to be much cheaper. We deliberately took into account the cost estimate in order to further encourage the participants.

Maciek: There is a common thinking that eco means more expensive, and this is not the case at all. It seems to me that the “do-it-yourself” methods have convinced the male part of the interested parties very much.

How much will we save?

Mirka: Dishwasher powder will cost us 10 cents, and we will pay a zloty for a store-bought one.

Marek: The price appeals to the imagination and I’m sure it’s also an effective way to encourage someone to experiment with homemade cleaning products.

What does volunteering work look like in practice?

Maciek: Thanks to our company, we are able to incorporate a certain part of the time spent on volunteering into working hours, which allows us to determine certain things when we are all there. Of course, many details require involvement after hours – preparation of materials and messages. That’s why we want to introduce meeting structures so that they don’t fall apart. We are still learning ourselves and it’s great that each of us is able to get something out of volunteering, see how it works in the project environment, find out what the methodology is all about, or what it’s like to take part in an interview (laughs).

Marek: What is important for our group is that the movement happened from the bottom up. We communicated on our own, the idea was that it was worth taking up the challenge, during several meetings the concept of the basic structure of a group of volunteers appeared among people who want to do something for others of their own free will.

The company’s management looked kindly, did you surprise with the idea?

Mirka: It started with an initiative that wasn’t formalized into volunteering, so I think the board got used to the fact that we wanted to do it. We decided to go beyond the department and invite other teams to cooperate. It turned out that everyone supports volunteering in different ways, but there was nothing that ties us together by giving us the tools to discuss with the management and HR.

Maciek: It quickly turned out that we were able to build a team within the company. The most important thing for the company is to make our work possible, but we also approach the subject with common sense and do not expect that hundreds of thousands of dollars will start flowing into our activities in an uninterrupted stream. We look for solutions that are rational. This, in my opinion, is the idea of volunteering.

Marek: Brick by brick. The idea is to activate and engage people and their potential. At thyssenkrupp, we have room for action.

Mirka: We sifted the ideas through a sieve. We didn’t want to torture and be seen as crazy activists. The most important thing is to act with taste, acceptable, without causing the flight reflex.

What are your immediate plans?

Maciek: We will continue to work locally for ecology in an educational project and we want to get involved in something bigger.

Mirka: We would like to save the world on a larger scale. Now that we know more, we have planned an event for the Tri-City. We hope you will be with us!

_{Interviewed by: Dagmara Rybicka, Communication Department, Olivia Business Centre}