Istanbul Medeniyet University Sustainability Student Club develops projects to reduce the environmental footprint and contributes to creating equal opportunities in education with these projects.
IMU Sustainability Student Club (IMUSUS) continues to organise upcycling workshops to reduce waste production. In cooperation with the Sustainability Office, the club organised 2 ‘Upcycling Puppet Workshops’ in November. Held on November 27 and 29, 2024 at Istanbul Medeniyet University Sustainability Office, the workshops were facilitated by Ayça ÇELİKBİLEK, Research Assistant at IMU Sustainability Office and IMUSUS academic advisor. The workshops, which were open to student club members, were attended by 9 students and Sustainability Office staff.
In the 4th and 5th upcycling workshop organised as part of the ‘Sustainability Workshops’ project, finger and hand puppets were produced from waste fabric and felt collected by the student club members. In addition to the materials provided by the Sustainability Student Club, unused materials brought by the participants from their homes were also utilised in the production of the puppets. Previously collected waste paper was used to make the puppet moulds. Thus, the consumption of new resources was minimised by reusing resources in the production process. In total, over 40 finger puppets were produced in the workshops. The puppets were used to educate students in the earthquake zone in cooperation with NGOs. Thus, in addition to waste management, the project provided support for all children to have equal access to quality pre-school education.
The project team stated that recycling and upcycling activities will continue with different materials and concepts in order to reduce the amount of waste produced within the campus areas and to produce corporate responsibility projects that will support the zero waste policy of our university and informed that those interested can follow the workshops and activities from @surdurulebilir_imu instagram account.
