The CHYSTO.DE?! initiative was founded in 2020 by the Zhuk family from Mukachevo: Roman, Olena, and their two sons, Seraphym and Ustym. The family decided to preserve the beauty of the unique natural reservoir, the Transcarpathian Sea, after seeing tons of plastic there. The incredible landscapes reflected in the water also reflected human indifference in the form of rubbish.

“It was knee-deep… everywhere you looked. We removed 10 tons of waste from one small piece of land. It was horrible and inspiring at the same time, because we saw the result,” recalls Olena.

To free this place from rubbish, to create a nature reserve here that will become the center of ecological awakening for Ukrainians and, at the same time, a powerful push for the development of ecological tourism — this is the dream of the initiative’s founder, Roman Zhuk.

From a small cleanup of the shores among friends, the initiative has grown into a whole movement and a public organization that brings together hundreds of inspired people from all over Ukraine who want to make our country clean in every sense of the word.

Roman Zhuk gave his life for Ukraine at the front. Now his dream is being realized by his wife Olena, their sons, and a team of volunteers and environmental organizations who are doing everything they can to keep the shores of the Transcarpathian Sea clean and free from construction. All volunteers at CHYSTO.DE?! are called the eco-family. Everyone who comes to the shore of the Transcarpathian Sea for the first time is sure to return here.

Since then, the entire eco-family and hundreds of volunteers who have joined in have held 24 eco-picnics, during which more than 130 tons of garbage have been collected and more than 70 tons sent for recycling.

“Every eco-picnic is special to us, we can’t single out any one of them because we remember each one with warmth. For us, each one is dear and valuable, and we give our all to each one, as much as we can,” says CHYSTO.DE?! founder Olena Zhuk.

In December 2022, with the support of environmentalists, the team created the “Bereg Zakarpats’koho Moria” (The Transcarpathian Sea Shore) landscape reserve. Work in this direction is continuing, so that this unique natural area remains open to everyone and free from private construction.

Active work is also being carried out in communities. With the support of CHYSTO.DE?!, household waste collection has been organized here. Separate collection and sorting are currently being actively implemented. In the area of environmental education, the team is implementing the next step — the “ECO FILM FESTIVAL from CHYSTO.DE?!” in Kolochava, a small mountain community. The goal is to give a push to the development of sustainable ecological tourism and to make even more people fall in love with nature with the help of the cinema, to motivate them to explore and shoot videos, inform, inspire, and unite society to protect the environment and overcome the challenges of littering, pollution, and destruction. And finally, – to remember what is the price that we pay to live this life.