Half a trillion disposable cups are consumed every year in the world. That’s at least 70 cups per person.
Although the word “cardboard” seems to give an innocent expression to the disposable cups we often use
Unlike many paper materials, cardboard cups are not recyclable.
Although the outside of these cups is made of paper, the inside is lined with plastic to hold the liquid without leaking. Unless technology is used to separate this plastic from the paper, they cannot be recycled.
As part of the Plastic-Free July 2024 events, IMU Sustainability Student Club collaborated with Sipahi Studio to encourage people to use more sustainable alternatives to disposable cardboard and plastic cups, which cannot be recycled due to the plastics glued to the paper material they contain. To this end, students from the Sustainability Student Club and our Sustainability Office team visited the offices and social spaces at Göztepe North Campus on July 22, 2024 to provide information about the resource use, water consumption and environmental pollution caused by the production and use of disposable plastic and cardboard cups. Thanks to this collaboration, 4 people were presented with handmade ceramic mugs as a gift as a result of the giveaway held on the social media account of the IMU Sustainability Community and Sustainability Office, which was open to the participation of our campus community and the public.
During the event, the academic advisors of the project emphasized to all participants that natural resources are consumed during the production of single-use plastics and the consequences of this situation now and in the future. It was emphasized that cardboard cups are coated with a plastic material for impermeability and durability, and it was emphasized that due to this process, it is not possible to recycle these cardboard cups, so the consumption of these products causes a large amount of waste production as well as resource use. On the other hand, these products pose a health risk to humans due to the harmful microplastics they contain.
Sipahi Studio, which sponsored the event, stated that reducing the consumption of single-use plastics is very important for our environment. Stating that these products have negative effects, especially environmental pollution, company officials underlined that reusable products are our biggest helpers in this regard. Noting that a handmade ceramic mug can prevent hundreds or even thousands of disposable cardboard cups from being thrown away during its lifetime, company officials underlined that ceramic mugs made from natural materials such as clay are durable, long-lasting and can be recycled at the end of their life cycle.
With this social responsibility project carried out jointly by the IMU Sustainability Club and Sipahi Studio, 1,7 kilograms of plastic waste was prevented from being generated and this waste from remaining in nature for 450 years. By preventing this amount of plastic waste, 27 kg of greenhouse gas was prevented from being released into the atmosphere. Thus, by reducing the amount of plastic waste in our campus areas, in addition to contributing to our University’s zero waste project, it also contributed to reducing people’s environmental footprint.
The “Plastic-Free July” social responsibility project, which has been managed by IMU Sustainability Office since 2022, was carried out by IMU Sustainability Club this year. The academic consultancy of the project was undertaken by Res.Asst. Ayça ÇELİKBİLEK from IMU Sustainability Office team, who is also the academic advisor of 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) invited people to challenge them 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 plastic-containing product. IMUSUS also collaborated with 18 companies in Turkey and the world that are pioneers in sustainability and have sustainability labels in order to carry this awareness to consumer behavior. Thanks to this cooperation, on certain days of the challenge, with the sponsorship support provided by the companies, sustainable products were presented to both our students and 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.
“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 plastic they use.
