Welcome to the Sustainable Labs Initiative
Welcome to the Sustainable Labs Initiative
The Sustainable Labs Initiative (SLI) is dedicated to fostering a culture of sustainability within research laboratories at the University of Rochester. By addressing the environmental impact of laboratory practices, we aim to foster eco-conscious research, reduce waste, enhance resource efficiency, and implement sustainable solutions to ensure a healthier planet.
Our vision is to lead the scientific community in adopting environmentally conscious practices by integrating sustainability into every aspect of research operations.
We encourage investigators to take part in our sustainable lab events each semester. Our previous events have included:
Freezer Challenge (January - June 2025)
Investigators for Sustainable Labs training (February 2025)
Laboratory Spring Cleaning Month (March 2025)
Freezer Challenge (January - June 2025)
The University of Rochester is proud to participate in the 2025 International Laboratory Freezer Challenge for the first time, organized by My Green Lab with the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL). Laboratory fridges and freezers are essential for scientific discovery and the betterment of human health—but Ultra Low-temperature freezers could be consuming the same amount of energy each day as a small house!
We encourage you to join this free competition, which has saved over 44.7 million kWh of energy over 7 years (equivalent to the electricity used by 6,100 homes for one year). Through the Freezer Challenge, your lab’s cold storage can be optimized for better sample access, sample integrity, reduced costs, and energy savings.
In our first challenge two labs participated in the Freezer Challenge at UR, saving 37.35 kWh/day. We hope to engage more labs in the 2026 Freezer Challenge starting in January 2026 to make a greater impact. Please reach out to the Office of Sustainability to learn more about how you can participate at sustainability@rochester.edu.
Investigators for Sustainable Labs training (February 2025):
SLI hosted an Investigators for Sustainable Labs training series to train the next generation of investigators in green lab practices. This training series was sponsored by URMC MyHub and utilized the My Green Labs Ambassador program as the training platform. This training series included guest speakers from University departments such as sustainability, facilities, and the Biological Supply C, that led discussions on current practices at UR. The instructor of the training was Dr. Samantha Romanick, a My Green Labs Accredited Professional and a microplastics researcher in the department of Biomedical Engineering with a passion and goal to inspire the practice of sustainable habits by investigators inside the laboratory at UR. We have successfully certified over 14 My Green Lab Ambassadors through this training.
If you are interested in becoming a My Green Lab Ambassador, we encourage you to complete the online training through the My Green Labs Ambassador program and share your certification with Megan Crawford so we can highlight your efforts towards a more sustainable laboratory culture at UR.
From the 2025 sessions, select participants shared their thoughts:
“I think this was a great program. I enjoyed the videos and discussions. I would have preferred something earlier in the day but overall really enjoyed the program. Thanks for putting on this seminar series and pushing this initiative at the University. Looking forward to putting what I learned into use in our lab and into looking into certifying our lab.”
– Meghann O’Brien, UR My Green Labs Ambassador
“Thank you for planning and managing these 4 classes. Those were awesome! I am already applying lot of improvements to make my lab more Green and hope to keep always improving. The short course was very interesting, and I appreciate that every class was divided in two parts with video and open discussion, and the presence of expert and collaborators. I will be happily following up with advanced training and classes, eventually. From my point of view, the time frame and organization were perfectly working. Should you need further details, please do not hesitate to contact me.”
– Andrea Perrelli, UR My Green Labs Ambassador
Laboratory Spring Cleaning Month (March 2025):
Each week of March we will be organizing a spring cleaning event, from repurposing name plates, recycling styrofoam coolers, and freezer cleanouts. Look out for more details of these upcoming events or signup to our email list to be notified for more details: https://forms.gle/pqNtdvdYbLHcYnXf6
Below are some details and outcomes from our events this past March 2025:
- March 3rd – 7th: Name Plate Repurposing. Drop off name plates at the Biological Supply Store located in the School of Medicine and Dentistry, Room G8633, from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm. Do you have old name plates from previous students/faculty/staff hanging around your lab or office? If so, we want them! As part of the University’s Reuse programs, name plates are recycled or repurposed. Please participate by dropping off name plates during our collection hours. In 2025, we collected 25 name plates for repurposing/recycling.
- March 10th: Styrofoam Cooler Clean Out. Get those piles of stored Styrofoam ready for recycling! SLI will be collecting Styrofoam coolers on both medical and river campuses. We will be collecting in the Medical Center SMD Flaum Atrium 9:00 am – 11:00 am and again on the River Campus Goergen Hall Munnerlyn Atrium 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm. Coolers will be dropped off to Thermal Foams for recycling. ALL STYROFOAM needs to BE #6 POLYSTYRENE (PS), and FREE of TAPE, STICKERS, & GLUE RESIDUE. FOAM FOOD CONTAINERS, #5 POLYPROPYLENE (PP), & CARDBOARD WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED! Please reach out to Samantha Romanick (sromanic@ur.rochester.edu) with any questions. Download a PDF flyer here and advertise the event! In 2025, we collected 222 styrofoam coolers and 83 styrofoam tube racks from labs on both the Medical and River campuses.
From repurposing name plates, recycling styrofoam coolers, and freezer cleanouts. Look out for more details of these upcoming events or signup to our email list to be notified for more details https://forms.gle/pqNtdvdYbLHcYnXf6
