Ways to reduce the climate footprint of the University's laboratories

Uppsala University needs to change how we use plastics to help reduce our climate footprint. Understandably, the University’s laboratories use a lot of plastic, and it has been estimated that 390 tonnes of laboratory plastic were used during the period 2020–2024.

An analysis of the University’s purchases of disposable plastic items for laboratory activities is now available that clearly shows where work to reduce the climate footprint from our laboratories should start in order to have the biggest effect.

“Hopefully, with the help of our report, we can stimulate various initiatives to reduce plastic consumption and reduce the amount of plastic that goes to incineration from our laboratories,” says Mikael Olsson, environmental chemist at the BMC campus management.

Together with Margareta Krabbe, senior lecturer at the Biology Education Centre, Andreas Wallberg, environmental representative at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Microbiology and staff at an external company, Mikael Olsson, environmental chemist at BMC campus management, worked on analysing the single-use plastics used in the University's laboratories. Margareta Krabbe is also Uppsala University’s coordinator for our participation in the ENLIGHT Plastimpact project.

The report is based on data from the University’s purchasing system.

“With this report, we hope that it will be easy to inspire the departments’ employees to get involved in exploring the possibilities of reducing or changing how they use plastics in our laboratories in various ways. The idea is that all departments should be able to choose something that they can change. There's scope for major initiatives in terms of behaviours and knowledge regarding our consumption of plastics, and we encourage employees and students to contribute their suggestions and ideas,” says Margareta Krabbe.

In parallel with the work on the report, they investigated different ways of reducing and changing plastic consumption in the University's laboratories.

Focus on waste containers and gloves

Laboratory plastics are generally made from fossil fuels that lead to significant emissions of greenhouse gases when they are incinerated. The purpose of the report Estimating laboratory plastics consumption at Uppsala University between years 2020 and 2024 was to identify the most important products and identify points where plastic consumption in our laboratories could be influenced the most.

By weight, two product categories dominate our plastic consumption. Hazardous waste containers and plastic gloves together account for almost half of the total plastic consumption.

This result runs counter to a general notion that small consumables, such as pipette tips and test tubes, are the main source of plastic consumption in our laboratories. While pipette tips and test tubes are still important, it turns out that heavier disposable items are more important.

Hazardous waste containers biggest source of emissions

Hazardous waste containers alone account for about a quarter of the total estimated plastic consumption.

Hazardous waste containers are traditionally made of fossil-based plastic, but there are alternatives made of bio-based plastic. They can be purchased through the University’s purchasing system, but the cost is a little higher.

“By making some efforts that save money while also reducing our climate footprint – for example, minimising the amount of hazardous waste – we hope that the departments can free up funds for other efforts such as purchasing hazardous waste containers made from bio-based plastic,” says Margareta Krabbe.

Minimising the amount of hazardous waste

Margareta Krabbe has analysed a number of experiments that students do as part of their courses at the Biology Education Centre to determine what is hazardous waste and what is not.

“In the experiments I analysed, about 25 per cent was hazardous waste; the rest was ordinary waste. Since the cost of managing hazardous waste is about six times higher than for ordinary waste, it’s important to reduce the amount that is disposed of as hazardous waste,” says Margareta Krabbe.

Gloves are the second biggest source of emissions

Although gloves do not weigh much individually, it is their extensive daily use – estimated at over 11,000 gloves per day at Uppsala University – that leads to disposable gloves accounting for a large proportion of the plastic consumed in the University's laboratories.

Margareta Krabbe also looked at the use of disposable gloves in student laboratory experiments that they perform as part of their courses.

“I analysed when gloves should be used and when gloves should not be used in these experiments. It easily becomes the norm to use gloves, even when not strictly needed. And sometimes it’s actually dangerous to wear gloves, for example when close to a naked flame,” she points out.

She managed to reduce the consumption of disposable gloves to one third of previous levels in the student laboratory experiments she analysed.

“Even small actions make a difference. The University uses large volumes, so small changes can have a big impact,” concludes Margareta Krabbe.

Anders Berndt