17/04/2020 | A few years ago, Roger Spranz, a former PhD student at ZMT, together with German and Indonesian colleagues launched the "Tasini" project to fight plastic pollution of the oceans. They developed a reusable shopping bag, made of recycled plastic in the form of small sea animals, in order to replace plastic bags in Indonesia, where there is a problem with plastic waste.
Last year, ZMT supported the start-up "Making Oceans Plastic Free" with its Tasini idea for reducing plastic waste in the world's oceans in the framework of an EXIST start-up grant from the Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy. This year, the start-up has been nominated for the Leibniz Association Start-Up Award.
But the current Covid19 crisis is now threatening the existence of the young company. The founders have reacted with a new idea: Tasini temporarily becomes Maskini. Instead of producing reusable bags and offering environmental education, they are now making fabric mouth and nose masks to slow down the spread of Covid-19.
"If all people in public places wear these masks, the spread of Covid-19 could be slowed down. As medical masks are urgently needed in hospitals, fabric masks are recommended for everyday use. More and more, they are becoming a symbol of solidarity: Anyone who wears a mask can protect his fellow human beings," says Roger Spranz, explaining the idea behind the initiative.
The fabric masks of the German-Indonesian environmental Initiative are produced in Indonesia. With the purchase of each mask, an additional mask is donated in Indonesia. The seamstresses work from home. This minimises their risk of infecting themselves and ensures their economic survival.
"Every day we receive new news from our colleagues in Indonesia about the severe impact of the Corona crisis on the local people. Many simply cannot afford social distancing," says Roger Spranz. "We want to enable these people to survive economically, reduce the risk of infection for the whole family and contain the spread of Covid 19 in Indonesia as well.
On the crowdfunding platform Startnext you can support the project and as a thank you you will receive your own mask, for which another one will be donated in Indonesia:
http://Maskini.MakingOceansPlasticFree.org/
Contact:
Dr. Roger Spranz
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Tel: +49 174 956 1544
WhatsApp: +62 812 3756 8244