The Environment Festival, organized by Kadıköy Municipality every year as part of the World Environment Day activities, was organized this year with the theme “Sustainable City: Ecological Life in the City” theme. IMU Sustainability Office and Sustainability Student Club students attended the festival on behalf of our University, which aims to draw attention to the importance of sustainable urban policies, living spaces in harmony with nature, renewable energy sources, waste-free living practices, ecological agriculture and social solidarity networks in order to reduce the effects of climate disasters and build a more livable future.
IMU Sustainability Office and Sustainability Student Club organized environmental education and interactive workshops at the Kadıköy Municipality Environment Festival this year. From our Sustainability Office team, Res.Asst. Ayça ÇELİKBİLEK, Res.Asst. Furkan ERUÇAR and Sustainability student club members discussed ways to develop sustainable practices in cities and improve waste management in order to create more sustainable cities and communities with the participants with the workshops and games they conducted at the festival held in Özgürlük Park between May 31-June 01, 2025. The sustainability team provided environmental education with the Nature Detectives and Waste Segregation games they designed, and conducted an upcycling art workshop for two days. Our team also informed our booth visitors about the sustainability studies of our University, research, activities and practices carried out within our institution for sustainable development purposes. IMU Sustainability Student Club members also supported the stand activities. The student club members presented the booth visitors with bookmarks made from paper and waste fabrics produced in the paper recycling workshops.
Our team, which took part in the festival with workshops and games, raised children’s awareness about ecosystem and biodiversity with the “Nature Detectives” game they organized for children. In the game, which was held in Selamiçeşme Özgürlük Park where the festival was organized, children were given target cards prepared for them to find in the park area and they searched for these targets in groups in the designated area. For each target found, our workshop facilitators ÇELİKBİLEK and ERUÇAR informed the children about the characteristics of the species and its importance in the ecosystem. Children were made aware of the fact that there is an important species richness even in the parks where they play and the importance of protecting these areas for the survival of biodiversity. After the game, each group was presented with play dough molds produced by recycling plastic bottles in the plastic bottle recycling workshops organized by the IMU Sustainability Student Club within the scope of the “Transformation Festival”, giving children a permanent environmental message and introducing them to recycling products.
During the festival, the Sustainability team also played the “Waste Sorting Game” designed and produced by the team with the booth visitors. With the game, the team provided information on important issues of waste management such as the waste sorting system implemented in Turkey within the scope of zero waste implementation; recyclable and non-recyclable wastes; and the issues to be considered when throwing waste into waste bins for recycling. He played a game with children in which waste was sorted through examples. The sustainability team made explanations about the common misconceptions about recycling and emphasized that waste should be disposed of cleanly in waste bins in order to be recycled. Thanks to the Waste Sorting Game, 110 children were trained on waste sorting during the festival. At the end of the game, play dough molds produced by the IMU Sustainability Student Club were presented to the participating children as a gift, giving them a permanent environmental message and introducing them to recycling products.
Drawing attention to the importance of recycling waste, the sustainability team also organized an upcycling workshop during the festival with the participation of the booth participants to draw attention to the importance of complying with the waste pyramid principles in order to ensure the efficiency of resources. In the “Upcycling Art Workshop” held at the booth of our institution during the festival, a painting was created with the pixel art method from the waste plastic lids collected by the IMU Sustainability Student Club from our campus areas, cafes and restaurants. The participants not only actively contributed to the creation of the artwork by placing the lids in the correct area with the coordinates given to them, but also experienced sustainable development concepts such as “reuse”, “waste reduction” and “circular economy” in practice. With this creative recycling project, a total of 570 plastic caps were used, while approximately 765 g of plastic was upcycled and saved from waste. The completed work was the fourth work to be exhibited at the Transformation Festival exhibition, which will be prepared by the IMU Sustainability Student Club to draw attention to the environmental pollution caused by plastic waste and the environmental footprint caused by people’s plastic use.
These three workshops organized by IMUSUS within the festival increased the social inclusiveness of the “Transformation Festival” and appealed to a wide range of people from children to adults, students to housewives. Through these activities, the concepts of recycling and upcycling were shared with the participants in an interactive, fun and instructive way. In this way, both individual environmental responsibility and social sustainability were supported.
Istanbul Medeniyet University Sustainability Student Club continues to raise awareness with sustainability-oriented social responsibility projects, efforts to combat climate change, waste management practices and circular economy-based activities. For new workshops and announcements to be held in the coming days within the scope of the “Transformation Festival”, the student club’s instagram account @surdurulebilir_imu can be followed.
The “Transformation Festival” project organized by IMUSUS is supported by the UNIDES program of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of the Republic of Turkey.
