IMU Sustainability Club (IMUSUS) launched the“Upcycling Art ” social responsibility project to draw attention to the recycling and upcycling of plastic, paper and metal as materials in 2024. As part of this project, the group started creating artworks with the upcycling of plastic caps and completed their second work after the first artwork made with the participants of the Kadıköy Environment Festival.
IMU Sustainability Club organized “Plastic Upcycling Workshops” on 01-02 October 2024. In the workshops hosted by IMU Sustainability Office, plastic caps collected by the club members were upcycled and the second work of the transformation exhibition, the “Kermit” canvas, was created. The club aims to exhibit this work in its future exhibition to draw attention to environmental pollution caused by plastic waste and the environmental footprint caused by the use of plastics.
In the first part of the two-stage plastic cap upcycling workshop, attention was drawn to the amount of solid waste generated by people’s plastic use. ÇELİKBİLEK pointed out that according to the “Global Plastic Outlook” report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), plastic waste generation, which was 156 million tons in 2000, more than doubled by 2019 and reached 353 million tons, and stated that only 9% of this waste is recycled. ÇELİKBİLEK told that although sustainable products have started to be included in our lives in many areas where plastic enters our daily lives with innovations in production processes and the increase in green products, it is difficult to significantly reduce the use of plastic in a short time due to its ease of use, lightness and cost advantage. For this reason, ÇELİKBİLEK stated that consumer behavior changes should be targeted to remove single-use plastics from daily life as a priority, and for plastics that cannot be avoided in this process; recycling and upcycling processes should be given importance.
In the second practical part of the workshop, a artwork was created with the pixel art method from plastic caps. Plastic bottle caps collected by the club members from cafes, restaurants and waste recycling bins in the campus areas were used to create the work. The project team pointed out that while the project contributes to corporate sustainability strategies with this feature, it is also an important component for the zero waste campus project. In the workshop, first of all, a pattern work was done for the designed Kermit character. Afterwards, the caps separated in colors suitable for the pattern were washed and sterilized. As the final stage; the caps were placed on the prepared matrix to create the pattern.
The work was prepared by a team of 15 people using a total of 539 plastic bottle caps. Thus, 728 grams of plastic was upcycled, preventing these caps from becoming waste and preventing these them from remaining in nature for 450 years. Thus, in addition to contributing to the zero waste project of our University by reducing the amount of plastic waste in our campus areas, it also contributed to reducing the environmental footprint of individuals.
You can follow the future workshops of the “Upcycling Art” project on the Instagram account of the IMU Sustainability Club and IMU Sustainability Office and participate in the workshops.
