Saving >62% Plastic Waste in SDS-PAGEs
Imagine you could save the weight of a chocolate bar in plastic every time you conduct an experiment! Today I want to convince you that this is certainly possible. Let us discover how much waste we can save every time we prepare an SDS-PAGE, a rather short and straightforward protocol – nevertheless, there is a lot of potential for optimization! Work Smart, Not Hard Always create as many gels as possible and as few as necessary. This means that if you are planning to run multiple SDS-PAGEs within the next week, prepare 2 or 4 gels at a time.-> Advantage: This will halve or reduce to a quarter the amount of waste and time used. Following The Right Order Use the following pipetting order from dedicated stocks to reuse one serological pipette instead of three (cutting your waste by one-third): Ensure the volumes for each are large enough to pipette conveniently.-> You cut your waste by one-third and save the time required to exchange pipettes. Note: Be sure to use best practices and expel the liquid completely. The risk of contamination is minimal since you only take up fluid (without mixing), and this wouldn’t be a concern anyway, as you use dedicated stocks. However, we still aim to work as carefully as possible. For SDS, 10% | N,N,N′,N′-tetramethylethylenediamine (TEMED) | Ammonium persulfate (APS), you use a single tip for each. Traditional Approach Sustainable Approach 28.323 g vs. 10.383 g -> 63% reduction Keep Them With You Each time you reuse your Falcon tubes (Tris buffers, acrylamide – SDS is often stored in a single 15 mL tube, APS and TEMED in smaller tubes), you cut down your waste even further. For us, reusing them for half a year has never caused any issues. However, for simplicity, let’s assume you reuse them 10 times: Traditional Approach Sustainable Approach 384.9 g vs. 38.5 g -> 90% savings = Combined, these measures save more than 350 g of plastic, equivalent to the weight of 3.5 chocolate bars – just in plastic waste! Note: We need 2x 50 mL tubes to mix our gels, so for each approach, add 25.66 g of waste to the total. Bonus TipHow do you know when your gel has polymerized sufficiently?Since it is advisable to prepare a bit of excess solution in case you spill something or your apparatus is not entirely sealed, keep this remainder in your preparation tube. You will know the gel has polymerized when the leftover solution sets.(Of note, polymerized gel is much less toxic than the liquid form, so never discard it into the sink!) You can then leave the gel in the tube or throw it out later and reuse the tube. If you remove the gel, just be gentle and ensure no clumps are left behind. If in doubt, it’s better to discard the tube! Weight of Items We Used (varies by manufacturer)
Reducing Energy Consumption In Laboratories
The university of Cambridge spent approximately 19 million pounds on energy in 2018. On average, about 60-75% of all energy is consumed by laboratories. Therefore, these steps, can significantly cut down on energy consumption while maintaining high standards of research and operation: 1. Develop a Comprehensive Energy Plan Pro Tip: Optimize Equipment Readiness: Measure how long it takes for your equipment to get ready and share this information in a collaborative Excel sheet with your team. This will help you plan better and avoid leaving equipment running longer than necessary. 2. Smart Purchasing Decisions 3. Optimize Settings Pic energy consumption from last time pdf with S-labs consumption of HVAC vs others 4. Efficient Equipment Usage 5. Regular Maintenance 6. Collaborative Sharing 7. Optimize Equipment
The Shortest Complete List of Sustainable Actions
This list is certainly not exhaustive since scientists come up with new amazing practices to make their laboratories more sustainable every day. However, here is as much inspiration as we can give: Reducing waste Improving experimental conduct and design Reducing paper, water and energy use Paper Water Energy Changing procurement and purchasing processes Using equipment Optimizing waste treatment Changing for internal organization Involving institute governance Optimizing HVAC