13 Jun 2018 Story Nature Action

Infosys World Environment Day – Plastic to Funtastic

Plastic accounts for around 90% of all ocean trash with 46,000 pieces of plastic covering every square mile. It is high time we became aware of the harm caused by plastic!

On World Environment Day, the Infosys Sustainability team and the Eco Club at Infosys Bangalore partnered with Freethinker - a creative team based out of Bangalore - to support UN Environment and the #BeatPlasticPollution campaign.

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The team conceptualised an out-of-the-box program, adding FUN to address a serious issue. The result was ‘Plastic to Funtastic’, a unique experience to educate employees on how to minimize and eliminate single-use plastic from their daily lives and show the frightening consequences of inaction. 
 

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Infosys Bangalore development centre head, Gururaj Deshpande enjoying the games

Plastic to Funtastic was a carnival-themed event where visitors had fun with plastic. Volunteers were deployed on-the-ground to set up and co-ordinate various games, activities and artistic displays made of plastic, bringing to life the importance of the theme: #BeatPlasticPollution.
 

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Employees learning about the alternatives to plastic

 

The games had a didactic dimension, raising visitors’ awareness about the scourge of plastics and how dependant we’ve become to this ubiquitous material. 

 

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Aruna C Newton (Associate Vice President- Diversity & Inclusion And Sustainability Planning and Governance) supporting the initiative

The visitors not only had a blast in the carnival but also interacted with various eco-friendly professionals who have dedicated their lives to eliminate plastic.

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Team campaigning and interacting with employees

Among them, were vendors showcasing products made from copper and steel; bamboo home remedies made from bio enzymes; jewellery crafted from recycled waste; and more. 

Visitors saw the opportunity to avail of a ‘cutlery bank’ facility free of cost, for small and large functions.  The Adamya Chetana team, an NGO based in Bangalore showcased their initiative to promote zero waste parties.

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In keeping with the theme of eliminating and minimizing the use of single-use plastics, visitors received eco-friendly cloth bags as prizes. 

 

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The Infosys Sustainability team will continue such awareness  programs to encourage Infoscions to adopt  sustainable life styles.

“As a responsible global corporation that is passionate about sustainable development, Infosys is taking this opportunity to align with global sustainability efforts in combating the issue of single-use plastic products. On this World Environment Day, we pledge to make our campuses free of single-use plastics" said Pravin Rao, Chief Operating Officer.

This move is part of Infosys’ continued effort to conserve the environment and encourage sustainable lifestyle.