IMU Sustainability Student Club (IMUSUS) carries out many social responsibility projects to reduce the amount of waste generated in the campus areas of our university and to recycle the waste on-site.
IMU Sustainability Student Club (IMUSUS) continued its waste recycling and upcycling activities in November. IMUSUS, which established a plastic recycling workshop in cooperation with Tylman Design and the Sustainability Office for plastic recycling activities, installed two PETMachines to recycle waste produced with PET material. The project team completed the installation of the machines in October and started to produce new products with the materials they recycled in November and inform the club members about the production process. The ‘Upcycling PET Filament’ workshops held on November 27, 28 and 29, 2024 were open to club members. A total of 19 participants attended the events. The workshops were facilitated by IMU Sustainability Office Research Assistants Res.Asst. Furkan ERUÇAR and Res.Asst. Ayça ÇELİKBİLEK.
In the workshops, firstly, the academic advisor of IMU Sustainability Student Club, Res.Asst. Ayça ÇELİKBİLEK gave information about the plastic recycling projects carried out by the student club. ÇELİKBİLEK pointed out that while social responsibility projects are produced in many parts of Turkey about plastic lids, almost no projects are produced about the bottles to which these lids belong. ÇELİKBİLEK stated that in addition to producing waste, these plastic bottles are lightweight and fly in the wind, so they are mixed into water resources and cause many negative consequences such as both marine pollution and threatening the lives of marine life. ÇELİKBİLEK stated that all members of the club are sensitive about environmental pollution and for this reason, they attach special importance to waste management in their social responsibility projects. ÇELİKBİLEK pointed out that their aim is to recycle the wastes produced within the campus areas on site and thus they will both reduce the amount of energy needed for recycling and ensure the recycling of wastes with less carbon emissions. She emphasised that the work to be carried out within this workshop will form an important part of Istanbul Medeniyet University’s 3R (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) programmes, which include waste reduction, reuse and recycling.
After giving general information about the project, IMUSUS president Res.Asst. Furkan ERUÇAR gave information about the operation and use of PETmachine, which was designed by Tylman Design to convert pet bottles. After the users obtained basic information about the use of the machine, the application phase of the workshops started. In the workshops, PET bottles were first converted into filament and then upcycled by the use of 3D printers to produce various products.
In the workshop held on November 27, strips were made from 5 PET bottles, and 3 of these bottles were turned into filament using PETMachine. On November 28, filament production continued and two more 5-litre bottles were turned into filament. In the continuation of the workshop, 10 snowflake ornaments, the first products of the project, were produced from these filaments. In the workshop held on November 29, 10 more snowflakes were produced and diversity was ensured by producing coloured filaments.
During the 3-day workshops, a total of 470 grams of PET bottles were recycled into filaments. With this process, the participants were shown the tangible benefits of recycling, while at the same time contributing to raising awareness on sustainability.
Sustainability Student Club stated that they will continue their upcycling activities with different materials and those who want to get information about new events can follow @surdurulebilir_imu Instagram account.
