IMU Sustainability Student Club (IMUSUS) organized “Upcycling Art Workshop – Cover/Elmo 1” on April 18, 2025. In the workshops hosted by the IMU Sustainability Office, plastic lids collected by the community members were upcycled and preparations were started for the third work of the transformation exhibition, the “Elmo” painting. It is aimed to exhibit this work in the exhibition to be prepared by IMUSUS to draw attention to the environmental pollution caused by plastic waste and the environmental footprint caused by the use of plastic.
In the first part of the two-stage plastic lid upcycling workshop, attention was drawn to the amount of solid waste generated by people’s use of plastic. According to the “Global Plastic Outlook” report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), plastic waste production, which was 156 million tons in 2000, more than doubled by 2019 and reached 353 million tons. It was stated that only 9% of these wastes were recycled.
With the innovations in production processes and the increase in green products, sustainable products have started to be included in our lives in many areas where plastic enters our daily lives. However, it was emphasized that it is difficult to significantly reduce the use of plastic in a short time due to its ease of use, lightness and cost advantage. For this reason, it was stated that consumer behavior changes should be targeted to eliminate single-use plastics from daily life as a priority. In this process, it was stated that recycling and upcycling processes should be emphasized for plastics whose use cannot be avoided.
In the second practical part of the workshop, it was planned to create a painting from plastic bottle caps using the pixel art method. For this purpose, community members collected plastic bottle caps from cafes, restaurants and waste recycling bins on campus. The collected caps were sorted according to their types and colors and the necessary cleaning processes were completed.
The project team emphasized that this work contributes to corporate sustainability strategies and is an important step within the scope of the “Zero Waste Campus” project. The design work for the Elmo character selected for the painting took place at the planning stage.
A total of 620 plastic covers were made ready at the event, which contributed to the University’s zero waste project by reducing the amount of plastic waste in our campus areas, as well as contributing to the reduction of people’s environmental footprint.
You can follow the future workshops of the “Upcycling Art” project on the Instagram account of the IMU Sustainability Community and the IMU Sustainability Office and participate in the workshops.
