Especially in today’s consumption-oriented world, there is plastic in the packaging of almost every product we buy and in the content of most products. An average of 400 million tons of plastic is thrown away every year, 60 million plastic water bottles are mixed into the soil and it takes more than 1,000 years for them to decompose in nature. Even if you don’t remember your first toothbrush, it is still in nature…
Therefore, we need to take responsibility for the impact we leave on nature.
Istanbul Medeniyet University Sustainability Office organized a series of events throughout July 2023 within the scope of the social responsibility project launched in this month to reduce the amount of plastic waste and to encourage people to live a plastic-free life, to raise awareness on this issue, and to help them gain habits that will make a difference in their daily lives.
IMU Sustainability Office invited people to a month-long challenge to eliminate single-use plastic products from their lives by making them aware of the amount of plastic waste they produce. In the challenge, which was designed as a monthly transformation process, information was given every day about the recycling status of a single-use plastic product such as toothbrushes, straws, bags, cardboard cups, cling film, which we all use frequently in our daily lives, and the amount of waste it creates globally. Following each of such information sharing on the office’s social media account, people were offered alternatives that they could use instead of that particular product, with natural ingredients and packaging that do not produce plastic waste. On certain days of the challenge, the plastic-containing items of our students and staff were replaced with sustainable ones, enabling people to take the first step towards a waste-free life thanks to the collaborations established by the Office. With this project, the Sustainability Office challenged our campus community to remove single-use plastics from their lives, and challenged the entire public through social media by saying “Are you up for a plastic-free life?” and invited everyone to a plastic-free life starting this month. At the same time, by publicly sharing informative content and giving sustainable product gifts via social media, not only our campus community but also the entire public was encouraged for a plastic-free life. Thus, with the events organized, both awareness was raised on waste management and a social change was initiated through changes in consumer habits.
Within the scope of Plastic-Free July activities, IMU Sustainability Office collaborated with STUDENT student club and T-Brush Company to make people’s dental care free from plastic waste. Thanks to this cooperation, our students and staff brought their old plastic-handled toothbrushes on July 17, 2023 and received new bamboo toothbrushes free of charge. At the event held at the Ziraat Bank Library of our university, the toothbrushes of 35 of our students and staff were replaced with sustainable bamboo toothbrushes with the sponsorship of T-Brush. During the event, all participants were informed that a toothbrush with a plastic handle can remain in nature for about 500 years without decomposing, that 4.7 billion toothbrushes are produced every year in the world, and that these brushes produce an average of 23 million kg of plastic waste annually. They were informed that the bamboo handle of the toothbrush given to them can be composted and decomposed within 2-3 months and that they can bring their brushes to the composts made by the Sustainability Office in the campus area at the end of the usage period if they wish. In addition, in order to raise awareness in the public as well as our campus community, 5 more people were given bamboo-handled toothbrushes as a gift as a result of the information and raffle held on the instagram account of the Sustainability Office on the same day.
The Sustainability Office also collaborated with MisecaTr to make personal care plastic-free. With this collaboration, on July 24, 2023, our students and staff brought their plastic shampoo and conditioner bottles and received new solid shampoo bars with natural ingredients and no plastic waste free of charge. At the event held at the Sustainability Office, our students and staff had the opportunity to start a new habit for a plastic waste-free care with the sponsorship of MisecaTr. During the event, all participants were informed that a person consumes around 1,500 shampoo and conditioner bottles in their lifetime and that more than 7 billion people do this. Even if these plastic bottles are thought to be recyclable and thrown into the yellow boxes, only 9% of them are recycled, and it was explained that the best way to keep non-recyclable plastic bottles away from nature is not to use them at all. 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 solid shampoo bars with natural ingredients as a gift as a result of the information provided and the raffle held on the instagram account of the Sustainability Office. After the event, the packaging of the products sent by the company with waste-free shipping was transformed by adding them to the compost made by the Sustainability Office.
As the second part of the collaboration between IMU Sustainability Office, STUDENT student club, and T-Brush Company to make people’s dental care free from plastic waste within the scope of Plastic-Free July activities; on July 24-25, 2023, the old plastic packaged toothpastes of our campus community were replaced with reusable and recyclable packaged toothpaste tablets with natural ingredients. With the event held at the IMU Sustainability Office, 35 people from our students and staff brought their old plastic packaged toothpaste tubes and received sustainably packaged toothpaste tablets with natural ingredients free of charge under the sponsorship of T-Brush. During the event, all participants were told that when toothpastes, which are indispensable for oral care, run out, their plastic tubes remain in nature for many years. It was informed that 1.5 billion plastic toothpaste tubes are thrown away every year in the world and they take centuries to break down and then turn into microplastics, which means 21 million kg of plastic waste per year. In addition, in order to raise awareness in the public as well as our campus community, 5 more people were given toothpaste tablets as a gift as a result of the information provided and the raffle held on the Instagram account of the Sustainability Office on the same day.
The last event of IMU Sustainability Office’s “Plastic-Free July” project drew attention to the harm that plastic toys that are not produced in accordance with the standards can cause to children. Attention was drawn to the negative effects that such toys can have on our children’s central nervous system, skin, immune and reproductive systems, and it was suggested that toys made from natural materials such as wood and bamboo should be preferred instead of plastic toys to protect our children from all these dangers. In addition, since toys made of wood and natural materials have an important place in Turkish Culture, an event open to external participation was organized under the sponsorship of REDKA to introduce people to “Mangala”, one of the most important of these games which has been included in the list of Turkey’s intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. At the event, first of all, Res.Asst. Ayça ÇELİKBİLEK from IMU Sustainability Office made a presentation on mangala and its importance in Turkish culture. After the presentation, ÇELİKBİLEK explained the rules of Turkish Mangala to the participants. After all the information about the game, the participants were paired and the tournament started with wooden mangalas provided by REDKA. At the end of the tournament, Zeynep Yasemin AKARDAŞ, our student from the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department of our University, who ranked 1st by collecting the most points, was presented with a prize package including a REDKA wooden mangala and sustainable product gifts.
The “Plastic-Free July” events organized by the Sustainability Office was ended by sharing informative content that evaluated the effects of habit changes for a plastic-free life for a month on global warming, oceans and seas and landfill and invited people to maintain these habits throughout their lives.
