The UCSB Laboratory Assessments for Research Sustainability (LARS) program “is driven by the need for conservation in a laboratory setting. Laboratories are central to the discovery missions of universities, but they are also the largest users of energy and resources. While many scientists are aware and supportive of the goals of the sustainability movement, it is not normally their primary concern. Through the LARS program, we aim to educate researchers on how to bring sustainability into the lab as well as to provide resources for implementation” (source).
LARS is advised by a group of UCSB Laboratory Research and Technical Staff (LabRATS), which promotes the evaluation of laboratory procedures and implementation of performance standards to assist laboratories in becoming more sustainable. LabRATS began in 2004 when Allen Doyle, the lab manager of the Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, began promoting “sustainable research” at UCSB. He was joined by Katie Maynard, sustainability coordinator for UCSB, and Jeff Kirby, development engineer in the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, and the LabRATS program became official in 2005.
LabRATS has evolved from an informal group into a major program which enlists a multitude of interns and undergraduate volunteers to connect researchers campus-wide. In 2006, the program received a grant from the Lawson Valentine Foundation which enabled it to hire undergrad interns, and it completed its first UCSB laboratory assessment in July 2006. In 2007, the journal Science focused on sustainable science and featured UCSB’s LabRATS program (Science, 318, [5847], 39-42) in an article titled “This Man Wants to Green your Lab,” and in 2008, it was honored by the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories and R&D Magazine with an Organization Award at the first-ever Go Beyond Awards which honors individuals, organizations, projects, and laboratory manufacturers that “go beyond” the status quo to minimize the environmental impacts of laboratory and other high-technology facilities and laboratory equipment.
And the kudos keep rolling in, the latest of which is an article in the Journal of Chemical Health and Safety, “Secrets revealed: Chemical surplus sharing at colleges and universities,” which lauds the chemical surplus sharing program initiated by LabRATS for its success in general and its website in particular: “Two websites stood out as innovative and have done much to boost the awareness of their CSS programs, Iowa State University and University of California at Santa Barbara. Both of these are set up like commercial shopping websites with pictures of the chemical, a short description, a search function and a shopping cart.”
Miriam Weil, the author, notes that “Chemical surplus sharing (CSS) programs exist at many universities. These programs have the potential to minimize hazardous waste and reduce costs associated with waste disposal to the university by reducing the amount of chemicals purchased and later disposed of as hazardous waste…This investigation derived criteria for evaluating the success of a CSS program and identified elements critical for program success. The criteria for judging a CSS program to be successful have been found to be: 1. Operate for long periods; 2. Maintain high participation rates, and 3. Keep large amounts of chemicals out of the waste stream (saving departments and universities money that would otherwise be spent on hazardous waste disposal). Critical features that create successful programs were identified as the following: 1. Marketing and advertisement, 2. Good customer service: fast service of free chemicals! 3. Accurate and accessible website and chemical surplus inventory, 4. Good oversight and management of surplus to maintain product quality.
Editor’s note: See the June 24, 2010 article, “UCSB (and Geography) Sustainability Has Major Bragging Rights” for more concerning UCSB Sustainability awards.Article by Bill Norrington
