Steffi Schroeter is starting the project on the Danish island of Bornholm. As a nature coach and whale researcher (book "The Wisdom of Whales") she wants to do something locally to protect the whales and the sea. Through her travels and research of whales, her knowledge of the plastic flood and the dangers to the sea and humans is great and, inspired by the "plasticfree communities" movement in the UK, she starts her own project on Bornholm. The whale becomes the symbolic figure of the Changemaker Partnership, then called "Smiley," which is awarded to companies and institutions that do without single-use plastic. Within a short time, many companies join the project and the press and influencers report on it.

Word of the initiative's success and driving force spreads across borders and gradually volunteers from different regions come forward to do the same: Call and inspire locally for single-use plastic reduction and hand out "smileys" in recognition of the effort. Via a report about "plastic-free Bornholm", Sylt resident Heike Werner hears about Bye Bye Plastik and Steffi Schroeter and brings the project to the island of Sylt. Together with Carin Winkler, they decide to make Sylt more and more plastic-free. In the same year, volunteers start regional Bye Bye Plastik projects in Kiel, Bordesholm, on the Lower Rhine and Westerwald/Mittelrhein. The movement grows! On Bornholm, Bye Bye Plastik participates in the political folk meeting "Folkemøde" and causes the issue of single-use plastic to be seriously discussed for the first time for the event with 150,000 visitors. The decision follows that the event should be free of single-use plastic from 2020 and the organizing secretariat is awarded the CHANGEMAKER partnership.

Corona also meets the commitment of Bye Bye Plastic and the attention for plastic reduction goes to zero. Instead, the consumption of disposable items and hygiene products rises steeply. Sylt continues to be very active and wins the environmental award of the islands and Halligen. The cooperation between the founder and the people of Sylt intensifies and they attend meetings of the "Round Table Marine Litter", an information platform of about 130 experts from fishing, shipping, industry, retail, science, education, tourism, environmental associations, authorities, politics and art. Bye Bye Plastic regional groups from Flensburg and Frankfurt will join.

In July 2021, a new regulation will come into force across the EU, banning the production of some single-use plastic items, such as the plastic cup or straw. A first milestone of work has been done, and now the task is to adapt the criteria for awarding the award and increase the demands on companies. A restructuring is in the offing: A permanent core team of Steffi Schroeter, Heike Werner and Carin Winkler is formed and it is decided to give the project a new form and structure, to be able to accept donations and to expand the activities and projects. The decision was made to found a non-profit limited liability company and set all the necessary preparations in motion. Sylt becomes the most active region in Germany and cooperates with other players such as Healthy Seas, Ocean.Now! and becomes part of newly founded projects like the "Klare Kante Sylt" for waste prevention on the island.

The core team is putting more and more heads together and a concept is being developed that will make Bye Bye Plastik even more of a movement, according to the motto: One for the people. One for the companies. Both for the movement. A team of three young IT and design students are hired and the CHANGEMAKER Partnership is developed with new criteria for and the BELIEVER sticker, with which private individuals can show their attitude and their concrete contribution against the plastic flood. against the plastic flood. Both will be registered as a protected trademark. In February, the marine protection organization Bye Bye Plastik guG, based in Westerland on the island of Sylt, is officially founded with three partners: Steffi, Heike and Carin. Steffi Schroeter takes over the operational management. From March the first donations can be accepted. Bye Bye Plastik now also starts in Norway, in Stavanger, thanks to a committed German emigrant. Heike and Carin bring the microplastic exhibition "inyourface" from Ocean-Now! to Sylt, which opens on March 22, 2022. The Artist Swantje Günzel will be there for the opening and a theme week with events on microplastics and beach clean ups will frame the program. The new bilingual website will be launched in May, where companies and institutions can now also apply online for the CHANGEMAKER Partnership. Bye Bye Plastik is presented with the Environmental Award on Rügen at the Island and Hallig Conference.

In the year 2023, the focus is on the topics of reusable solutions, school classes, and an app. After the new Packaging Act mandated a reuse obligation for restaurateurs in January, Bye Bye Plastik launched a campaign titled 'Go the REUSE Route, Ask for REUSE!' Students from a Hamburg school took the initiative by engaging with 'Youth for Bye Bye Plastik' on TikTok and Instagram. Other school classes visited the island, underscoring that educational work with students should be intensified in the future. The expansion of Bye Bye Plastik into other regions was discontinued due to a lack of personnel. It became increasingly clear that the concentration of energy and effort should remain on the island of Sylt. A new strategic direction is being developed under the motto 'From Sylt to the World!' A fourth woman joins the team: Nadine from Hamburg strengthens the core team with her talents. The visit from the H.O.P.E. team sparked the idea to collaboratively develop a Bye Bye Plastik app, which will be available as a pilot version in the app stores by the end of the year.

This year is marked by the two new projects 'Sylt Cleans Up' and 'School Classes for Clean Seas.' Already in January, Bye Bye Plastik received support from the Nordfriesland Economic Development Agency in the form of a grant prize for further developing the Bye Bye Plastik app. With this funding, the interactive cleanup map from the new website—and thus 'Sylt Cleans Up'—was integrated into the app. This allows all residents of Sylt and visitors to document their own private cleanups on the island and elsewhere around the world via the app, motivating others to join in. The 'Sylt Cleans Up' action week in May marked the public launch of the campaign and generated visibility throughout the island and beyond. 'Wahlsylterin' Susanne joined the core team as reinforcement. Due to the great response during the action week, the 'Sylt Cleans Up' action summer in July and August followed, along with an autumn action in October. In 2024, Bye Bye Plastik organized 15 large public cleanup events and 19 'School Classes for Clean Seas' cleanups. In addition, 293 private cleanups were documented in the interactive map. In total, nature was freed from 8,643 liters of waste, with 716.5 km cleaned by 1,248 collectors. In December, Minister Dirk Schrödter awarded Bye Bye Plastik the Special Prize for Volunteering and Education as part of the Schleswig-Holstein Digitalization Award.

In 2025, the two projects 'Sylt Cleans Up' and 'School Classes for Clean Seas' will be further advanced and expanded. Already in January, Bye Bye Plastik will kick off with 2 large, public 'Sylt Cleans Up' cleanups. Two extended action periods in the spring and summer are planned. The campaign’s expansion to Schleswig-Holstein is being targeted, and the team is on the lookout for cooperation partners on the mainland. Following the successful integration of the cleanup map into the Bye Bye Plastik app, options for further developing the app will be explored this year, with the goal of building on the successes of 2024.