IMU Sustainability Club Draws Attention to the Plastic Waste Generation of Single-Use Straws and Gifts Handmade Glass Straws in collaboration with Cen Cam
IMU Sustainability Club Draws Attention to the Plastic Waste Generation of Single-Use Straws and Gifts Handmade Glass Straws in collaboration with Cen Cam
The straw from the juice you drank as a child and threw away after a few minutes is still in nature. And it will remain in nature for more than 200 years. Single-use plastic straws and plastic-coated paper straws cannot be recycled.
There are currently 8.3 billion plastic straws littering beaches worldwide. Single-use plastic straws are one of the 10 most common types of plastic found in beach cleanups. Because they are lightweight, they can easily drift and end up in waterways and seas. Straws are also deadly for many animals if they get stuck in the airways and are swallowed.
As part of the Plastic-Free July 2024 activities, IMU Sustainability Club collaborated with Cen Cam to discourage the use of non-recyclable single-use plastic straws and plastic-coated paper straws and to promote the use of glass straws as sustainable alternatives. To this end, students from the Sustainability Club and our Sustainability Office team visited the offices and social areas at Göztepe North Campus on July 12, 2024 to provide information about the resource use, waste generation and environmental pollution caused by the consumption of plastic straws and plastic-coated paper straws, and gifted reusable handmade glass straws to our campus community members. Thanks to this collaboration, a total of 45 campus community members stopped using single-use plastic straws and received sustainable glass straws free of charge. In addition, in order to raise awareness in the public as well as our campus community, on the same day, 5 more people were given glass straws through the giveaway on the social media accounts of the IMU Sustainability Club and the Sustainability Office.
During the event, the academic advisors of the project explained to all participants that it takes about 200 years for plastic straws and plastic-coated paper straws, both of which are disposable and cannot be recycled, to decompose in nature. In this context, the team stated that single-use straws are one of the important sources of plastic pollution in nature, and pointed out that the production process of straws also involves high resource use in terms of raw materials and energy consumption. It was also emphasized that single-use plastic straws, which are most commonly found among waste on coasts and beaches, can easily find their way into the sea and waterways, posing a fatal threat for animals.
Cen Cam, the event sponsor, stated that in addition to supporting domestic production, they are committed to the principles of using natural resources in the most effective and sustainable way and that they adopt sustainable production principles in their production. However, noting that consumer behavior should be sustainability-oriented as well as corporate sustainability principles for sustainable living, the company emphasized that they aim to create an incentive by gifting reusable products to their users in certain periods and explained that reusable glass straws are among the chief incentives. Cen Cam stated that as a natural and abundant material that is easily available and can be processed with minimal energy consumption, glass is completely recyclable without loss of quality, which helps us reduce our environmental impact, and emphasized that glass straws are not only a sustainable alternative to plastic straws, but also help to conserve resources. Unlike plastic straws, glass, as a natural and non-toxic material, does not contain harmful chemicals such as BPA and phthalates, which can leach into our drinks with negative effects on human health; therefore, by choosing glass straws, we will be choosing a safe and healthy option for both ourselves and the environment. It was also emphasized that carbon emissions are lower as less energy is consumed during recycling than in the production of new glass.
With this social responsibility project carried out jointly by IMU Sustainability Club and Cen Cam, 6 kg of plastic waste was avoided, while preventing these wastes from remaining in nature for more than 200 years. With the prevention of this amount of plastic waste, 10 kg of greenhouse gases were prevented from being released into the atmosphere. Thus, by reducing the amount of plastic waste in our campus areas, we not only contributed to the zero waste project of our University, but also contributed to reducing the environmental footprint of individuals.
The “Plastic-Free July” social responsibility project, which has been managed by the IMU Sustainability Office since 2022, was carried out by the IMU Sustainability Club this year. The academic consultancy of the project was undertaken by Res.Asst. Ayça ÇELİKBİLEK from the IMU Sustainability Office team, who is also the academic advisor of the IMU Sustainability Club, the Club president Res.Asst. Furkan ERUÇAR, and Lect. Zehra SAVAN.
Within the scope of the 2024 activities of the “Plastic-Free July” project, IMU Sustainability Club (IMUSUS) challenged people to remove a single-use plastic product they use in their daily lives every day for a month and step into a plastic-free life. During the challenge, environmental awareness was raised by providing information about the waste generation and environmental pollution caused by these plastic products every day through social media accounts. Following each of these informative social media posts, people were presented with sustainable alternatives with natural ingredients and packaging that do not produce plastic waste, which they could use instead of that particular plastic-containing product. IMUSUS has collaborated with 18 companies in Turkey and the world that are pioneers in sustainability and have sustainable product labels in order to channel this awareness to consumer behavior. Thanks to this collaboration, on certain days of the challenge, with the sponsorship support provided by the companies, sustainable products were presented to our students, staff and the public in order to create a new behavioral change in their daily lives. Thus, while enabling people to take the first step towards a plastic-free life, it also contributed to reducing the amount of single-use plastic waste and the environmental footprint of our campus community.
The “Plastic-Free July” movement has been celebrated around the world since 2011, challenging people to eliminate single-use plastic products from their lives by raising awareness about plastic pollution and the amount of plastics they use.
