We are a community-run, volunteer-based initiative to bring plastic recycling closer to the consumer, but we are only a small part of the global Precious Plastic movement. To get involved yourself, check out the Get Involved section.
Celia Somlai
Celia is our organiser and democratically elected decision maker. She has been intensively involved with the Zero Waste movement in Ireland for the last couple of years and is trying to live a low waste lifestyle. Her day job revolves around making sense of the Irish and European packaging waste statistics. In the rare occasion that she actually does create some plastic waste, she would prefer to upcycle it herself locally than shipping it off into the unknown. You can follow her Zero Waste Adventures on her Instagram and blog.
Jan Knappe
During the day, Jan is an Environmental Scientist interested in everything related to sustainable and low-cost water treatment. At night (when he is not out dumpster diving), Jan is haunted by nightmares about all the single-use plastic that enters our oceans through polluted rivers and streams. And to finally sleep in peace again one day, he joined the Precious Plastic Dublin team. You can find Jan on Twitter or check out his blog.
Irmantas Dinapas
Irmantas is a crackerjack of the construction and logistics industry. There is no job too big or too small for him if it needs to get done. For the past year, he has also been involved with The Ladder, an accelerator for social enterprises working towards achieving our global SDG’s where Irmantas is very keen on supporting projects with environmental focus such as Evoccoo and the Bee Sanctuary Ireland. He joined the Precious Plastic Dublin team from the first hour as he is super keen on learning more about the technologies behind plastic recycling on a small and large scale.
Anna Golovkina
Anna is a humanist and tries to help people in different ways. She believes that kindness and healthy living is the foundation of happiness and a base for healthy living is a clean environment. Professionally, she sells energy analytics platforms for large consumers to help reduce their energy use, practices yoga and mindfulness. She tries to inspire people to adopt a more reflected plastic consumption because she knows for sure that a big change in the world consists of a million small changes. Anna believes in people and that we are on the right path to become more conscious and knowledgeable about all the precious uses of plastic.
Sean Hynes
Sean has been working in IT for 15 years. He loves messing around with computers and electronics and taking longs walks on beaches picking up plastic as he goes to feed our hungry shredder. Sean is passionate about the environment and wants to help in any way he can to reduce the impact plastic is having on our planet and promote the idea that plastic is precious and should be treated so.
Richard Neylon
Richard has a background in IT and education but his thoughts never stray too far from environmental issues. He believes technology and education can help us manoeuvre away from our current unsustainable trajectory. He sees Precious Plastic, which he joined in July 2019, as a prime example of this by providing some solutions to our plastic problems and also helping people learn more about that ubiquitous material which we encounter so often in our daily lives.
Chris Darling
Chris is a dedicated outdoors person and social entrepreneur who likes to get stuck into any project that helps the environment. Having spent time in the IT industry whilst also running a surfboard repairs/crafts workshop, he’s taken on the role of sustainable watercraft educator. His mission is to make environmentally friendly surfcrafts whilst also teaching people how to do the same for themselves. You can find Chris on his facebook page ‘Surfcraft’, or on the beach/mountains picking up plastic and thinking of ways to upcycle it!
Bernd Peters
Having worked as a supply chain manager in grocery retailing for many years, Bernd saw the amount of packaging and single use plastic used first hand. Having moved from Germany to Ireland recently he had to realise that the consumption of single use plastic per head is even higher here. Being conscious about the environment and trying to adopt a more sustainable lifestyle himself he stumbled over Precious Plastic Dublin at the Zero Waste Festival and joined the team to see what difference he can make.
Sinead Corcoran
(Former Member)
Fed up with plastic waste and the lack of real recycling solutions available in Ireland, Sinead was very excited to learn about Precious Plastic. While she’d prefer if there was less plastic in the world to begin with, she hopes that if people can see the value remaining in their plastic garbage they may be less inclined to throw it away. By day Sinead works in campaigning and community organising. She would love to see a Precious Plastic workshop in every town across the country! You can follow her personal journey on Twitter.
Morane Senyarich
(Former Member)
Morane believes that often people want to do the right thing for the environment, but simply don’t have the option! This is why she joined Precious Plastic Dublin, with the hope to close the loop of plastic consumption in Dublin by giving the right tools to the community. Growing up in the French countryside, she is passionate about nature since childhood. She studied Agricultural Sciences, Waste and Water Management and tries to do her humble part in protecting our planet in her daily job.
Wouter Desmit
(Former Member)
Wouter is a jack of all trades, studied industrial science, sports and physical education, journalism, business management and web design. Just like Jan, a victim of endless worrying about environmental issues, he links social behaviour, excessive consumerism and economic greed with the upcoming environmental crisis. Wouter is an active volunteering member of Friends of the Earth since 2017, organizer of the Sick of Plastic Campaign in Dublin 8 since 2018. At Precious Plastic Dublin, Wouter is part of the finance team and hopes that one day all humans will realise that the Earth is far more precious than we currently think.