{"id":71204,"date":"2025-01-23T11:00:05","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T16:00:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/?p=71204"},"modified":"2025-02-11T10:28:40","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T15:28:40","slug":"its-easy-going-green-green-labs-making-science-more-sustainable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/its-easy-going-green-green-labs-making-science-more-sustainable\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s easy going green: Green Labs making science more sustainable"},"content":{"rendered":"

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All scientists have one goal in mind: to make the world a better place.<\/p>\n

They work tirelessly in labs and in the field, collecting samples, testing experiments, and applying theories. Throughout the process, however, they\u2019re inevitably left with large amounts of waste.<\/p>\n

It was something that began to concern Star Scott while she worked as a researcher in the Odum School of Ecology<\/a>. Noticing the large amounts of waste produced by the scientific process, she began to reflect.<\/p>\n

\u201cScience has long operated as though we\u2019re exempt from needing to mitigate our environmental and social footprint,\u201d she said. \u201cBut we are inadvertently contributing to a much larger issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

She took this concern to then Associate Vice President of Research Safety and Integrity Chris King, now interim vice president for research, who helped Scott put together a task force they called \u201cGreen Labs.\u201d The burgeoning task force grew into a university program of the same name, with Scott as the program manager.<\/p>\n

\"Star
Star Scott, Green Labs Program Manager.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For nearly nine years, Green Labs<\/a> has strived to make UGA research labs more sustainable, equitable, and efficient by reducing lab waste, conserving water, and lowering energy usage. It\u2019s part of a larger international movement that began over a decade ago to make the global research enterprise more sustainable and efficient. To be called \u201cgreen labs,\u201d programs must be focused on reducing resource use, diverting waste, and improving equity in research spaces.<\/p>\n

UGA is one of only nine research institutions in the United States with full-time green labs faculty, as well as an independent, full-fledged program dedicated to making science more eco-friendly.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of other universities use green lab practices in their safety and integrity, but UGA is one of the few that has a dedicated program and staff,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n

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Energy saving<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Between freezers, ovens, and fume hoods, research labs are intensive energy consumers. \u00a0It can be easy for researchers to forget about this, Scott said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know about you, but when I was growing up, my parents would tell me 500 times to turn off a light when I leave a room, so that\u2019s now engrained in me,\u201d she said. \u201cMuch of what we do in Green Labs is behavior modification like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
The UGA Green Labs program provides “Shut the Sash” stickers to research labs with fume hoods as friendly reminders to close the hoods when not in use.\u00a0 (Photo provided by Green Labs)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Fume hoods are one key focus. Fume hoods consist of an exhaust fan on top of the laboratory building that pulls air and airborne contaminants through connected ductwork and funnels them to the atmosphere, improving laboratory air quality. Among the most energy-intensive pieces of equipment in a laboratory, however, a single hood can use the same amount of energy each year as three and a half American households.<\/p>\n

If left open overnight, it wastes copious amounts of energy, similar to when you leave a window open while the A\/C is on \u201cfull blast\u201d as Scott described it.<\/p>\n

Scott took note of this common issue, leading Green Labs to launch the \u201cshut the sash\u201d campaign, reminding researchers to close their fume hoods. With the help of some education and a simple sticker, she began helping provide units with behavior modification tools.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sash sticker is a constant reminder for researchers to shut the sash when their hood is not in use,\u201d Scott said. \u201cSimply by closing it, we can save up to 40% of energy in that unit.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Clayton Wilcox, Facilities Management Division Interim Associate Vice President and Senior Director for Administration (Photo by Craig Smolenski)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In addition to the benefits researchers experience, these simple solutions also help reduce utility costs and prolong the life of equipment and mechanical systems, mitigating replacement costs incurred by the university\u2019s Facilities Management Division<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re very proud to host the Green Labs program at UGA,\u201d said Clayton Wilcox, the interim associate vice president of FMD. \u201cEverything Green Labs does has positive implications for most of our unit. Greater efficiency in labs leads to resource reduction and, thus, savings for the institution, as well as reduces costs associated with waste management. These savings directly impact FMD\u2019s budget.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, Green Labs works in conjunction with various departments like Utility and Energy Management, Safety, Engineering, Waste Reduction Services, and Sustainability.<\/p>\n

While many Green Labs initiatives are based on education and behavior modification, one of the biggest takes a little more labor.<\/p>\n

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The Freezer Challenge<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Freezer Challenge<\/a> is an annual international initiative sponsored by several international non-profit lab sustainability organizations, with the goal of improving the efficiency and sustainability of laboratory cold storage. It\u2019s been in practice for over a decade, and UGA has been a participant for the past two years.<\/p>\n

The challenge is simple: Scott and Green Labs student staff consult with UGA labs on how to properly maintain lab freezers by cleaning coils and filters, optimizing storage space, and removing frost and ice.<\/p>\n

When a freezer isn\u2019t properly maintained, temperature pockets can form from poor air circulation. This can be caused by ice buildup, overcrowding or blocked vents, creating localized temperature variations within the freezer compartment and potentially harming the integrity of samples stored there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in a lab for nearly 10 years, and never knew we needed to conduct preventative maintenance on our ultra-low freezers,\u201d Scott said.<\/p>\n

Since Scott launched the challenge at UGA two years ago, participation has tripled. Not only does the challenge prolong the lives of the equipment, it also reduces burden on HVAC systems. With preventative maintenance, freezers don\u2019t have to work as hard, thus reducing the heat load coming off the unit.<\/p>\n

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\u201cJust maintaining your freezer has this huge impact on the building efficiency,\u201d Scott said. \u201cIt’s like this tremendous win, win, win, win, win across the board.\u201d<\/p>\n

By participating in the freezer challenge, UGA researchers also earn a chance to win a brand new high-efficiency ultra-cold freezer worth $15,000 courtesy of Utility and Energy Management.<\/p>\n

Last year, Odum Professor John Wares won the challenge.<\/p>\n

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John Wares, professor in Odum School of Ecology. (Photo by Andrew Davis Tucker)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cTechnically I\u2019ve been participating in the freezer challenge longer than two years, but I only got serious about the documentation in the last two,\u201d he said. \u201cThis new freezer will last me throughout the rest of my career and has better energy efficiency than the one I had.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wares assimilated eco-friendly practices into his lab long before the Green Labs program launched. He documented the amount of plastic waste his lab accumulated then posted it on a sustainability blog on the UGA website.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of my work is conservation focused and being a researcher doesn\u2019t exempt me from paying attention to what I use and how I handle my equipment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”71208″ img_size=”full” alignment=”center” css=”” el_class=”centerPic”][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1737726498145{padding-top: 20px !important;}”][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”71239″ img_size=”full” css=””][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”71247″ img_size=”full” alignment=”right” css=””][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text css=”” el_id=”image-caption” el_class=”image-caption”]The Freezer Challenge is an annual international initiative dedicated to improving the efficiency and sustainability of laboratory cold storage. By following simple steps, such as cleaning the filters and scraping ice, researchers can prolong the life of their utlra low freezers. (Photos by Lauren Corcino)[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”” el_class=”text-container”]<\/p>\n

Waste diversion<\/strong><\/h2>\n

From plastic pipette tips and tissue culture plates to animal bedding and batteries, labs create a lot of waste.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe use a lot of single-use plastics in science labs,\u201d Scott said. \u201cAccording to a report in Nature<\/em> in 2015, the scientific research enterprise was responsible for five and a half million metric tons of single use plastic waste a year\u2014equivalent to the mass of 67 cruise ships.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because of this, many UGA researchers have reached out to Scott about different ways to divert their waste from landfills, either through recycling, composting, reuse, repurposing, or in some cases, donation.<\/p>\n

Scott created a graphic on the Green Labs website that guides people to the correct, most eco-friendly disposal of lab waste. Some examples include composting animal bedding, placing non-hazardous lab glass in a safe disposal box, and donating used ice packs to local community organizations to be reused.<\/p>\n

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Some of the more complex lab waste materials, such as plastic film, small lab plastics, and styrofoam, is diverted to the Athens-Clarke County Center for Hard to Recycle Materials (CHaRM).<\/p>\n

If a lab has good condition glassware they\u2019re looking to dispose of, it can be rehomed via the Green Labs program Lab Glass Rehoming program. This program is in partnership with the ACC Teacher Reuse Store, where local middle and high school teachers can acquire donated equipment for their classrooms.\u00a0 As lab glass is very expensive, local schools often lack the resources to purchase it. Thus, donated lab materials allow students the opportunity to conduct experiments firsthand, serving future scientists. Interested labs must consult with UGA Green Labs to donate.<\/p>\n

However, it is of utmost importance chemical containers are never placed in the recycling. This is part of the partnership between UGA and the Athens-Clarke County Recycling Center. No laboratory materials should ever be placed in UGA\u2019s single-stream recycling\u2014lab recycling on campus is through special source recycling only and does not get comingled with single-stream materials.<\/p>\n

According to Chemical Safety Officer Brandon Foskey, each chemical container is marked with a barcode so that the contaminated waste doesn\u2019t end up in the recycling stream.<\/p>\n

When Scott isn\u2019t assisting labs in creating green practices, she\u2019s in classrooms talking with researchers, students, and postdocs about the importance of sustainability in lab work. Green Labs programs are still few and far between throughout the United States, but she hopes to see them continue to grow.<\/p>\n

\u201cResearch consumes so much energy and leaves such a large consumptive footprint,\u201d Scott said. \u201cIf each lab just does small measures, like shutting the sash and maintaining their freezers, it not only benefits UGA, but the planet as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”” el_class=”text-container first-paragraph”] All scientists have one goal in mind: to make the world a better place. They work tirelessly in labs and in the field, collecting samples, testing experiments, and applying theories. Throughout the process, however, they\u2019re inevitably left with large amounts of waste. It was something that began to concern Star Scott … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “It\u2019s easy going green: Green Labs making science more sustainable”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":71210,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"feature-single.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[222],"tags":[],"post_medium":[691,314],"publications":[],"authors":[801],"photographers":[],"video_credit":[],"takeaways":[],"class_list":["post-71204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainability","post_medium-feature","post_medium-read","authors-olivia-randall","entry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/121"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71204"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71204\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71204"},{"taxonomy":"post_medium","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_medium?post=71204"},{"taxonomy":"publications","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publications?post=71204"},{"taxonomy":"authors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/authors?post=71204"},{"taxonomy":"photographers","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/photographers?post=71204"},{"taxonomy":"video_credit","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/video_credit?post=71204"},{"taxonomy":"takeaways","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/research.uga.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/takeaways?post=71204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}