Guide
Register for Sustainable Labs
Updated on 19 October 2023
Designed to suit people who are not based in conventional office environments, such as teaching labs or research labs but still want to participate in the Green Impact Awards.
The School of Life Sciences are taking part in Green Impact’s Sustainable Labs programme, a national environmental award scheme aimed at creating a safe, successful and sustainable working laboratory environment.
Aims
The programme aims to focus on several main factors:
- Raise awareness of what environment issues are relevant to laboratories and what steps can be taken to help reduce these.
- Create a better understanding of equipment use and operation.
- Bring students and staff together, creating a greater support network between technical and research staff.
- Focus on removing high energy intensive equipment and switching them for more energy efficient replacements.
- Recycling old equipment, either choosing to re-use it elsewhere or rehome.
- Creating a more enjoyable, safe, sustainable working environment
Actions
The Sustainable Labs scheme provides easy, practical actions that are aimed at achieving sustainability across a wide range of areas including but not limited to:
- Scientific equipment
- Waste and Recycling
- Cold storage
- Chemical and materials
- Fume cupboards
- Water
- Management and appropriate training
Sustainability progress will be based on audits. These are carried out towards the end of the workbook programme. Teams can be audited by peer assessment or student volunteers. As part of Green Impact, interested students are offered special environmental auditing training, gaining an auditor certificate, which looks great for their CV. They will then visit lab teams to ensure actions have been completed to the recommended standard.
Upon analysis of the audit report, teams will receive either the award they were working on, or if they have just fallen short by a few actions, they will receive an accreditation award ‘Working Towards’ of which they can continue into the next year.
Extra credit
If the department is based across both laboratories and office environments, teams can complete the standard workbook alongside the lab workbook as there are different actions in both. If both workbooks are completed, you would receive the awards in both categories.