The sixteenth eco-picnic was held on the territory of the Vilshansky Reservoir

Representatives of Uzhhorod University also joined the eco-action – with the assistance of Vice-Rector Dmytro Soyma, the participants were able to stay and spend the night in the premises of the Uzhhorod National University Biobase “Kolochava”.

To clean the banks of the Vilshansky reservoir from garbage – this was the goal set by the couple Olena and Roman Zhuk 2 years ago. In the first days of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, Roman volunteered for the front and did not return. He died like a hero. Olena, experiencing the loss of her husband, continues the joint work and is going to see it through to the end.

The Vilshan Reservoir, or, as it is also called, the Transcarpathian Sea, is an artificial reservoir built to power a local hydroelectric power station. Two years ago, the Zhuk family went there to rest and was shocked by the amount of garbage filling the river banks. At first, they tried to clean it up on their own; they involved friends and acquaintances; they published posts on Facebook calling for help. Eventually, the volunteer project Chysto.de was created, in the context of which eco-picnics are held to clean up the Transcarpathian Sea.

“The 16th eco-picnic took place on the same territory as all the previous ones. The reservoir area is huge and has been littered for over 30 years,” says the founder of the organization, Olena Zhuk. The environmental action brought together over 120 people from different parts of Ukraine, even from abroad. “Our initiative is always joined by the best – successful and conscious people of different social status, age, gender, political or religious views, because ecology concerns everyone. Together with such people, over the 2 years of the project’s existence, we have removed over 100 tons of waste from the shore,” shares Ms. Olena.

This time, representatives of UzhNU also joined the eco-action, in particular, the vice-rector for administrative and economic work Dmytro Soyma. With his assistance, the participants of the eco-picnic had the opportunity to stay and spend the night in the premises of the UzhNU biobase “Kolochava”. “We would like to thank Dmytro Yuriyovych once again for such important help. After all, in the summer we can stay in tents. In the autumn months, this is more difficult and the weather does not always allow it. Families with children are going. There are many of us. Therefore, a roof over our heads is an extremely valuable contribution for us. We left everything clean. So thank you for your reliable support,” the organizers say.

This time the program was extremely eventful. In addition to cleaning and sorting garbage, participants were treated to singing and live music, eco-lectures for adults and eco-games for children, stand-up and morning yoga on the shore of the Transcarpathian Sea.

Chysto.de receives many messages calling for other sites to be cleaned up, but Olena is determined to finish what she has already started. She believes that the Vilshan Reservoir can become an object of socio-ecological value, an example of which will show that similar problems can be solved.