Who We Are?
Attention, Garbage Truck is Coming! is the largest grassroots climate initiative in Poland, run by the Foundation of the same name. The Foundation’s task is systemic change, that is, creating space for things that aren’t fully valuable anymore but shouldn’t end up in a landfill.
Attention, Garbage Truck is Coming! was founded in 2013. It all started with a set of 1950s chairs left out by the trash bins in the beautiful Saska Kępa district of Warsaw. Dominika Szaciłło saw them and couldn’t accept the thought that they’d be destroyed the next day when the bulky waste collection came. She went home, spontaneously set up the Attention, Garbage Truck is Coming! page, and posted for the first time. It turned out there were not only people willing to rescue things, but also others eager to share information about items worth saving. Posts on the page kept piling up, and two years later the first local groups appeared, along with the first people helping to run them.
In 2020, with the support of the Garbage Truck community, Dominika won the Lirene Woman. Innovation. Nature award. The prize helped fund the first training sessions for group admins and became the seed of the initiative’s fund.
In 2021, Dominika was accepted into the Ashoka Fellowship, joining a global network of more than 4,000 Ashoka members worldwide who are innovators building solutions to social problems. She received a three-year fellowship that let her focus fully on growing the Attention, Garbage Truck is Coming! initiative.
In 2022, at a meeting with local group admins, a joint decision was made to take the initiative to its next stage. The Attention, Garbage Truck is Coming! Foundation was born.
In 2023, the Foundation’s Board took shape, and the first plans, strategies, and ideas for activities beyond Facebook and online work started coming together. That same year, now as a Foundation, the Garbage Truck received its first grant from the National Freedom Institute, which allowed it to hire its first staff members and grow as an organization alongside them. And why all of this? To support a change in how we manage unwanted things, because we know a world without waste is possible.
Today, Attention, Garbage Truck is Coming! is more than 300 groups across Poland, more than 200 volunteers, and tens of thousands of tons of items rescued from the trash. And we’re only just getting started…
Mission and goals
Mission
Every year in Poland, more than 400,000 tons of items that could still serve people end up in the trash. Because of a lack of systemic solutions, lack of awareness, and simple haste, we destroy resources and pollute the planet, at enormous cost.
The Attention, Garbage Truck is Coming! Foundation has a way to minimize this massive waste, and our mission is a world without waste.
Goals
We believe a world without waste is possible. Here are the goals we want to achieve to get there:
- Grow the movement on Facebook: let every city join us, so there’s less and less waste!
- Work on the ground, beyond the Facebook groups: let waste prevention happen in our own neighborhoods too!
- Expand our online presence: so anyone can benefit from the Garbage Truck, even without Facebook!
- Educate: so every child and adult in Poland understands how they can personally take responsibility for their surroundings and the planet!
- Change the law in Poland: so it serves people and the planet above all!
Values
Respect
Mutual respect matters to us. With empathy, curiosity, and tolerance for different perspectives, we want to keep growing and come up with better solutions.
Agency
We feel responsible for the environment and the world around us, which is why we want to give ourselves and others real power to make a difference.
Learning
Growth matters to us. We want to learn, not judge, criticize, or give up. Mistakes are something we need, because they let us improve and create more value.
Joy
Changing attitudes toward waste and ecology matters to us. We use creativity, fun, and a positive approach to do it.
Transparency
Openness, clarity, and consistent principles matter to us. That’s what we build our community on. We’re not perfect, but we have nothing to be ashamed of.
Team
Volunteers
Over 200 group admins on Facebook, the main driving force behind the Foundation
Dominika
Szaciłło
Initiator of the Garbage Truck, founder and President of the Foundation, responsible for the organization as a whole
Maria
Juraszczyk
Vice President, responsible for fundraising and business partnerships
Małgorzata Sokołowska
Board Member, responsible for projects and media relations
Paulina Ratajczyk
Coordinator, responsible for volunteer support and communication
Magdalena Tomaszek
Coordinator, responsible for administration and finance
Kto nas wspiera?
Reporting
Transparency is fundamental to us.
We regularly publish annual reports, both financial and substantive, along with reports on the projects we carry out. They let you see how we use the donations we receive and how we work together to fulfill the Foundation’s mission.
If you have questions or anything raises a doubt for you, feel free to get in touch, we’ll do our best to answer as clearly as we can.