Plastic Free July activities at Izmir Institute of Technology
Three graduate students from Assoc. Prof. Altan Özkan’s Lab, Tuğçe Sezgin, Cemre Ağaoğlu and Müge Topcu got funding from UNDP-SGP for their project titled Tiny but Mighty: Chasing After Microplastics in Gülbahçe Bay. This project aimed at raising awareness on microplastics and the pollution caused by microplastics in the local community with a specific focus on children. As a part of the project, the project team decided to bring Plastic Free July to the campus, only with some extension. They organized the activities under the title of ‘Plastic-Free Fall’ period by spreading the activities over 6 months, starting from the Plastic-Free July concept. In this context, September LabWasteDay was also included in the concept to raise awareness about the fact that scientists generate about 15 times more plastic waste during their laboratory studies than they generate in daily life. An online meeting was held on September 26, 2023 to come up with new ideas to reduce plastic waste in the labs at Izmir Institute of Technology. In addition, as a project team, an additional performance indicator (the number of laboratories that terminate the use of single-use plastics in research activities and develop alternatives in line with the reduction of IZTECH’s plastic footprint) has been proposed to the strategic plan of Izmir Institute of Technology for the years 2024-2028 in line with the redefinition of the IZTECH campus as a sustainable / living / environmentally friendly education research laboratory.
