The Department of Social Responsibility and Sustainability can help you make your lab more sustainable through training, funding and advice. We also run an awards scheme to recognise your good practices in lab sustainability. Best practiceFollow the best practice guidance below to make laboratories more sustainable. Waste Learn how to recycle lab materials, reduce lab plastics, use your purchasing power and manage your chemicals. Fume cupboards and ventilation Explore energy saving advice on fume cupboards and ventilation, and how to make use of funding for sustainability improvements to your lab. Cold storage Read best practice for cold storage: check if your ULT is set too low or if you need to clear out old samples. See if you could get a grant to replace an old unit. Benchtop lab equipment Read tips on sustainable use of common lab equipment, and how to buy and use the most efficient equipment. The Sustainable Campus Fund can help you purchase more efficient lab equipment. Water Discover how to purify water with lower environmental impact, better ways to clean glassware and which water-cooling systems are most efficient. ResourcesGeneral sustainable lab resources are available on this page. Specific resources on waste, ventilation, cold storage, benchtop lab equipment and water can be found in the themed sections above. Document A3 poster: Why sustainability matters in the lab (213.76 KB / PDF) Document A4 poster: Top five tips from lab sustainability champions (1.01 MB / PDF) Document S-Lab Good Practice Guide (627.7 KB / PDF) FundingThe Sustainable Campus Fund is an internal investment vehicle that provides financing to help you implement energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other sustainability projects that generate cost savings.Please email the Department for Social Responsibility and Sustainability if you are interested in this.SRS.Department@ed.ac.ukRecognitionThe Sustainability Awards can give you the framework to help push your place of work to be more sustainable and reward good practice already taking place.Enter the Lab Sustainability AwardsInspirationCase studies, blog posts and articlesReflections on lab sustainability across the Higher Education sector on our blog, The SeedPractical learning and advice on lab sustainability on our blog, The SeedHow green is your science? The race to make laboratories sustainable [external]Lab networks we engage withUniversity of Edinburgh Sustainable Laboratories Steering GroupS-Lab [external website]My Green Lab [external website]University of Edinburgh TechniciansLaboratory Efficiency Action Network (LEAN) This article was published on 2024-10-01
