Your sustainable lab stories

Saroj Saurya, Laboratory Manager at the Raff lab and a member of Green Group in the Dunn School of Pathology, has worked tirelessly to reduce plastic waste in her lab. Amongst many other great initiatives, the lab has started recycling nitrile gloves:

The Raff lab got interested in sustainably doing science almost one and a half year ago, initially with the aim to reduce plastic waste in the lab. Professor Jordan Raff and each and everyone in the lab came on board with me and it was easy for me to start some new initiatives.

In three months, we have successfully piloted and recycled 12 kg of uncontaminated gloves and masks through TerraCycle. We had to make sure that nothing except the uncontaminated gloves and masks goes in the box before sending them for recycling. 

Raff lab and a couple of other labs at Dunn School have furthermore agreed to pilot the glove recycling from Appleton Woods (nitrile gloves only). Raff lab has the box and other labs will collect the gloves in any of their boxes and transfer them safely into the Appleton Woods box. I will then pack and return the filled box and will give feedback to the company.

The Raff lab is saving money and the environment by changing our behaviour and attitude towards doing the science in a sustainable way. It took us almost 1.5 years to come to this situation as it takes time to change - one step at a time and without forcing people to change. We need to get everyone on board.

From Dr Eric Belfield, Plant Growth Facility Manager at Plant Sciences:

The glasshouses in Plant Sciences are crucial for departmental research and teaching. The existing high pressure sodium (HPS) and metal halide (MH) lights in the glasshouses produce a good spectrum, but they’re energy inefficient. This is partly due to the large amount of heat they generate, which can also scorch leaves, flowers and fruit, and cause heat stress in some of the taller plants we grow such as maize and tomatoes. 

Following successful multi-season testing of energy-efficient LED alternatives to HPS and MH lights, we approached the Environmental Sustainability team in 2017 to discuss replacement of 18 old-style inefficient lights with LED lights. The LED lights emit only the parts of the electromagnetic spectrum that the plants require, making them highly energy efficient. Another benefits of LED lighting is longevity, with a typical lifespan twice as long as the traditional lights. Finally, because the LED lights run at a significantly lower temperature, they are less damaging to taller plants.

In 2019 we initiated the next phase of the project, replacing a further 141 HPS and MH lights. The Environmental Sustainability team worked with the Plant Sciences department and the central Purchasing team to negotiate preferential rates on the new lights, which arrived in late January.

Each LED is around 50% more efficient than what it replaces, and the project is expected to save around £25,000 a year in lower electricity bills, paying for itself within three years as well as preventing nearly 60 tonnes of CO2 per year from being released into the environment.

Find out about funding opportunities to save energy in your building.

Zuzana Bencokova, Lab Manager at the NDM Research Building explains why their freezers have been named after cute animals:

We've been doing this since 2013 when our building opened and the first freezers were moved in. We have chosen simple animal names that everyone could remember. Cute animal pictures were used to label each freezer. It's working really well: this system helps us to efficiently manage our temperature-monitored freezers and to clearly communicate with relevant researchers if any freezer has issues or needs defrosting. New research groups are surprised when we ask them to choose animal names for their freezers!

We also support our researchers with regular defrosting and provide all the required tools and guidance. In this way we ensure that all our freezers operate as efficiently as possible.