Lab Sustainability

Lab sustainability is a vital concern at Triumvirate Environmental, as the importance of sustainability, environmental stewardship, and safety has never been more clear. In a world that increasingly demands the adoption of sustainable practices from organizations, Triumvirate Environmental is here to help labs across the country reach their sustainability goals by implementing green lab programs and sustainability solutions that will create long-term positive effects from environmental, social, and financial perspectives. Contact us today to learn more.

 

Reasons to Implement a Lab Sustainability Program

Across the board, labs set the standard for scientific discovery and innovation—and as such, have the opportunity to lead this sustainability push and prove that protecting the environment is possible without sacrificing operations or research integrity.

Lab sustainability programs provide numerous benefits, including:

  • Improved compliance, now and in the ever-changing regulatory landscape
  • Streamlined operational efficiency
  • Safer and healthier teams, environments, and communities
  • Better brand image and potentially, greater market share
  • And more!


Lab Sustainability Initiatives

There are a number of lab sustainability initiatives a lab can take to help promote sustainability program success. Triumvirate Environmental is poised to help you achieve your sustainability goals by working with you to implement, track, and report on a wide variety of lab sustainability initiatives. In terms of sustainability solutions, we offer: 

  1. Waste Management: Sustainability initiatives can be seamlessly integrated into upstream and downstream waste management practices. Our dedicated team will perform a waste audit by analyzing your waste streams and determining the most sustainable option for collection, storage, and disposal of each. Our extensive knowledge of upstream waste management will help you prevent waste before it's even generated. Have green procurement goals? Our influence, connections, and deep industry knowledge help us enable sustainable procurement and supply chain sourcing—all to ensure that your waste is the best part of your lab sustainability program, not the most challenging. 
  2. A Trained, Accredited Team: Our extensive and experienced consulting team will be by your side every step of your journey to lab sustainability. The best information—and best minds in the business—will work with you to create lasting, effective, and realistic sustainability solutions that are tailored to the needs of your specific lab. Any implemented lab sustainability initiatives will be supported by our fully trained and dedicated support staff. These specialists help implement lab sustainability initiatives, generate ideas, and track goal progress both on site and externally. 
  3. Access to Best Practices: Our vast experience means we have seen it all—which sustainable solutions work and which don't—so we will be able to provide you with best practices and lab sustainability initiatives for success. We will also be able to analyze your specific processes and institute customized programs that are tailored to your labs.
  4. Sustainable Committee Management: If desired, our knowledgeable team members can integrate themselves into your organization’s sustainability committee—or help establish one—providing an outside perspective on sustainable solutions and focusing on results, while engaging key stakeholders throughout the organization.
  5. Assistance Preparing Sustainability Reports: If your organization is interested in—or has an internal or legal requirement for—tracking and reporting on environmental data, such as greenhouse gas emissions, energy use and costs, waste generation, water usage, or others, our team is here to help. We can collect relevant data and generate reports as needed for lab sustainability compliance and accountability. 
  6. Process Changes: With full on-site and off-site support, we can help develop, implement, and maintain process changes so you never lose research integrity or operational time in favor of sustainability solutions.
  7. Machine Decontamination and Maintenance: By ensuring your crucial lab machines like biosafety cabinets and fume hoods are in top working order, we can enable energy efficiency while simultaneously enabling lower operational costs and smoother operations. Preventative maintenance is a crucial and often overlooked aspect of a lab sustainability program.

These sustainability solutions are just a few examples of the ways that we can help you achieve your lab sustainability goals via innovative green lab programs. The plan will vary between organizations, facilities, and even individual labs; contact us today if you are ready to start your lab sustainability journey.

 

Quick Wins: Sustainability Solutions

To help kickstart your lab sustainability journey, check out some lab sustainability initiatives you can start implementing today:

  1. Waste Recycling, Reuse, and Diversion: Look into what waste your lab generates and analyze the reusability and recyclability of this waste. For waste that can't be recycled, consider ways to get the same job done with a more sustainable product option.
  2. Energy Timers: Installing inexpensive outlet timers on high-power-draw devices, such as benchtop water baths, can help make sure that equipment isn't using energy when not needed—but is ready to work when you are. Overhead and benchtop lighting can also be controlled via timers or occupancy sensors, ensuring energy is only being used when it’s needed.
  3. "Warming Up" Freezers: By simply raising the temperature of your freezers from -80 to -70 degrees Celsius, you can save energy in the lab—without compromising research integrity.  A freezer set at –70 degrees uses approximately 37% less electricity than a freezer set at –80 degrees.
  4. Install Aerators: Aerators on your faucets will not change the effectiveness of your faucets, and will result in 30-60% less water being used during rinses and washes in the lab. 
  5. Green Chemistry and Management: Choose greener and less hazardous alternatives to common lab chemicals to improve sustainability at the source, and incorporate state-of-the-art chemical inventory management software into your operations to eliminate overordering and subsequent disposal of expired chemicals. Both of these options will not affect research integrity, but they will help keep the planet and the lab safer. 
Why has lab sustainability become so important?

Research labs are responsible for approximately 5% of all carbon emissions in the United States, with each lab emitting 3-10 times the carbon as comparable office buildings. In fact, a single fume hood can use as much energy in a day as 3.5 average US households.

Sustainability is becoming more important by the day due to the increasing threat of anthropogenic climate change, habitat destruction, and resource scarcity. Engaging in sustainable practices ensures the continued abundance of resources for future generations. This reality has caused governments at the local, state, federal, and international level to institute regulations that make these practices not only encouraged, but legally required.

In addition, many organizations have begun incorporating sustainability into their business models in order to maintain a competitive edge in a market that increasingly demands environmental and social stewardship from its participants. Scoring highly on sustainability accreditations, offering sustainable products, and promoting sustainability will improve your organization’s impact while reaching a more diverse customer base.

 

Why is it important to maintain a stable laboratory environment?

The advanced work being done in labs—and the need for safety, efficiency, and compliance in these areas—mean that they must remain stable. In unstable environments, research integrity may not be maintained—which could mean the difference between long-term and large-scale research success and failure.

What is the primary goal of sustainable development?

The primary goal of sustainable development is to meet one’s needs without sacrificing the needs of those in the future. This can apply to lab work—as labs are the ones needed to push vital intelligence forward.

How can I make my lab greener?

There are a number of ways to make your lab greener—both quick wins (mentioned below) and more intensive sustainability solutions. Triumvirate Environmental can help you implement these lab sustainability initiatives.

How to reduce carbon footprint in a lab?

There are a variety of ways to reduce carbon footprint in a lab. The first step is reviewing your current practices to see where the most emissions come from—then, you can work to reduce their impact. Contact Triumvirate Environmental for help auditing your processes.

What are the main components of sustainable success?

There are two main components of sustainable success—reduction of resource use while maintaining operational efficiency, safety, and compliance.

 

Partnership with My Green Lab

As a leader in this space, Triumvirate Environmental is proud to be a My Green Lab Accelerator Partner. Through this partnership, we are better equipped to offer crucial lab sustainability support for our clients, helping them reach their environmental goals.

My Green Lab, a US-based non-profit dedicated to improving the sustainability of scientific research, ushers in real change for global research labs by developing realistic recommendations and goals for lab spaces, helping to oversee implementation of sustainability initiatives within these spaces, and offering recognition in the form of certifications for labs that meet these goals. Professionals with My Green Lab training certifications are valuable members of lab teams with a deeper knowledge of how to institute sustainability at all levels of a lab program. Triumvirate Environmental is glad to support My Green Lab’s mission to improve the sustainability of the lab spaces we service.

 

Getting Started With Lab Sustainability

Triumvirate Environmental can help with all of your lab sustainability needs, while bridging the gap between bench science and environmental sustainability. We offer onsite sustainability support from highly trained EHS professionals, and the ability to partner as a sustainable service provider—enabling your facility to become more sustainable, safer, and increasingly attractive to the market for ultimate product support. 

Having Triumvirate Environmental sustainability-accredited experts on site gives you a leg up—helping you make more sustainable choices and analyze the ways you can improve the overall sustainability of your lab. We bring in the change managers, fully trained and Accredited Professional (AP) certified, whom you need to support the motivated group of individuals at your site.

 

Ready to get started with lab sustainability?

Contact Triumvirate Environmental to learn more about how you can reach your lab sustainability goals. Fill out the form below and our team will connect with you.

To learn more, peruse the resources below.

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