Green Lab is a movement encouraging research labs to become more sustainable. Labs use 5-10x the energy of an office and lab work generates 5.4 billion kg of plastic waste per year. Our goal is to help reduce the environmental impact of research work. We help academic, industrial and research labs look at their lab practices and optimize for the smallest carbon footprint. This may be simple ideas such as turning off laboratory equipment in the evenings or waiting to fill an autoclave before turning it on; to more effort-intensive initiatives such as implementing a purchasing standard that highlights consumables suppliers that have end-of-life take-back programs or working with your waste hauler to develop a recycling program.
We're scientists because we want to do good for the world, but our research should not be damaging the planet, and we, as upstanding citizens, need to do our part to help curb climate change.