Tackling the plastic problem in the lab

00:21:27
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aojnkoh4fPA

摘要

TLDRLogan Hodgkiss from Green Labs Austria discusses addressing the plastic waste problem in laboratories. He outlines the significant environmental impact of lab waste and presents data showing the high volume of plastic generated. The presentation includes a recycling program developed by Green Labs Austria, involving thorough separation of plastics, effective collection methods, and partnerships for responsible recycling. Key steps in the process are detailed, including awareness and communication among lab members to facilitate better practices. Hodgkiss emphasizes the importance of adapting strategies and removing plastics wherever possible to promote sustainability in laboratories.

心得

  • 🌍 Awareness of environmental issues is crucial.
  • 📊 Plastic waste from labs is significant—hundreds of tons yearly.
  • ♻️ Only certain types of plastic can be recycled effectively.
  • 🔬 Simple replacements for disposable plastics can be implemented.
  • 🗂️ Sorting plastics is essential for recycling success.

时间轴

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    Logan Hodgkiss from Green Labs Austria introduces the topic of tackling plastic waste in laboratories, highlighting the environmental issues posed by plastic pollution. The presentation outlines the significant plastic waste generated by labs, using statistics from a bioscience department, and emphasizes the need for action to address this problem through research and recycling initiatives.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    The discussion moves into identifying the types of plastics commonly used in labs and which can be recycled, encouraging labs to review their ordering lists and assess plastic usage. An internal study showed microbiology labs use significantly more plastic than the average household, leading to further investigation into the potential for waste reduction and recycling.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    An experiment conducted by volunteers in the lab quantified the plastic waste produced in one week, revealing that a large portion of this waste is recyclable. The data was further corroborated by additional collection rounds, showing consistent trends across different laboratories in terms of plastic waste, particularly polypropylene items like pipette tips, prompting a call to action for more sustainable practices.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:21:27

    Lastly, Logan outlines the implementation of a recycling pipeline, focusing on the steps of separation, collection, and ensuring proper recycling. The key takeaway emphasizes communication and adaptability within laboratory teams, with resources made available through Green Labs Austria's website for those seeking to initiate similar recycling efforts. The presentation concludes with gratitude towards the core members and lab leaders for their support in this initiative.

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思维导图

视频问答

  • What is the main focus of the presentation?

    The presentation is focused on tackling the problem of plastic waste generated in laboratories and implementing a recycling program.

  • How much plastic waste does a typical lab produce?

    One bioscience department produced approximately 267 tons of plastic waste in 2014, which translates to around 5.7 million 2-liter plastic bottles.

  • What types of plastic can typically be recycled?

    PET, high-density polyethylene, and polypropylene are commonly recyclable plastics.

  • What is the first step in the proposed recycling pipeline?

    The first step is to separate plastic materials, especially differentiating between autoclaved and non-autoclaved plastics.

  • What overall strategy does Green Labs Austria recommend for plastic waste?

    Replace unnecessary plastic consumables, separate, collect, and ensure responsible recycling of plastics.

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  • 00:00:03
    hi and welcome to this module my name is
  • 00:00:05
    logan hodgkiss i'm a member of green
  • 00:00:07
    labs austria
  • 00:00:09
    and today in collaboration with the
  • 00:00:10
    newly founded sustainable european
  • 00:00:12
    laboratories i'm going to be talking to
  • 00:00:14
    you about tackling the plastic problem
  • 00:00:16
    in the lab
  • 00:00:18
    so to give you a quick overview about
  • 00:00:20
    what we will be talking about in the
  • 00:00:21
    next few minutes
  • 00:00:23
    we'll first start our start off with an
  • 00:00:25
    introduction of why we think this is an
  • 00:00:27
    important topic to discuss
  • 00:00:29
    we'll then move into some of the
  • 00:00:30
    background research about plastic in the
  • 00:00:32
    laboratory followed by implementation of
  • 00:00:35
    recycling plastic in the lab and we'll
  • 00:00:37
    end with some concluding remarks on the
  • 00:00:39
    entire process
  • 00:00:42
    so to get started with the introduction
  • 00:00:44
    i think it's very evident in today's
  • 00:00:46
    world if you look at the different news
  • 00:00:48
    articles
  • 00:00:49
    online or in the newspapers that we have
  • 00:00:51
    a lot of environmental issues that we
  • 00:00:53
    need to address and so this can be
  • 00:00:54
    anything from the rising carbon dioxide
  • 00:00:56
    levels to the wildfires that we see
  • 00:00:58
    around the globe
  • 00:01:00
    and of course the vast amounts of
  • 00:01:02
    plastic that are being deposited not
  • 00:01:03
    only on land but also in the oceans
  • 00:01:06
    and so i think a lot of people would
  • 00:01:07
    agree that these are very pressing
  • 00:01:09
    issues but what is less intuitive is
  • 00:01:11
    what is the environmental impact of the
  • 00:01:13
    laboratories that a lot of us
  • 00:01:14
    consistently work in
  • 00:01:16
    and specifically what we want to talk
  • 00:01:18
    about today is the waste that these
  • 00:01:19
    laboratories produce
  • 00:01:22
    so to give you an idea of what we're
  • 00:01:23
    talking about here we can refer to an
  • 00:01:25
    article that came out in 2015 and this
  • 00:01:28
    article did some background research
  • 00:01:30
    into the plastic generated from a
  • 00:01:32
    specific bioscience department
  • 00:01:34
    and they found that out of 280 bench
  • 00:01:36
    scientists they produced approximately
  • 00:01:38
    267 tons of plastic in 2014
  • 00:01:42
    and this is the equivalent of about 5.7
  • 00:01:44
    million empty two-liter plastic bottles
  • 00:01:47
    now these numbers sound very very high
  • 00:01:49
    but we also have to remember that this
  • 00:01:51
    is one department in one university and
  • 00:01:53
    if we start extrapolating these values
  • 00:01:56
    to multiple departments and multiple
  • 00:01:58
    universities throughout the world we can
  • 00:01:59
    see that these numbers will add up very
  • 00:02:01
    very quickly
  • 00:02:04
    and while these numbers are kind of
  • 00:02:05
    daunting we also want to try to put this
  • 00:02:07
    into something that we can recognize a
  • 00:02:09
    bit more so within green labs austria we
  • 00:02:11
    actually did an internal study that i'll
  • 00:02:13
    talk more about later and based on the
  • 00:02:15
    study we found that the average resource
  • 00:02:18
    usage for microbiology lab per year
  • 00:02:21
    is about 13 times as high for plastic as
  • 00:02:23
    it would be for the average austrian
  • 00:02:25
    household
  • 00:02:26
    and now within this figure we also have
  • 00:02:28
    a comparative analysis for the energy
  • 00:02:30
    but what we're focusing on today is the
  • 00:02:32
    plastic
  • 00:02:35
    and so from this we think that there is
  • 00:02:37
    a problem and this is worth thinking
  • 00:02:38
    about a bit more how we can address this
  • 00:02:40
    problem and so from this point on in the
  • 00:02:42
    presentation i'm going to be talking to
  • 00:02:44
    you about how we decided to address this
  • 00:02:47
    within green labs austria and with our
  • 00:02:49
    members within austria
  • 00:02:52
    so our labs like mini labs around the
  • 00:02:53
    world go through lots of different types
  • 00:02:55
    of plastic and so of course this can be
  • 00:02:57
    anything from pipette tips eppendorf
  • 00:03:00
    tubes falcon tubes even a lot of the
  • 00:03:02
    chemicals that we order come in
  • 00:03:03
    single-use plastic containers
  • 00:03:07
    and so this is uh problematic and we
  • 00:03:09
    wanted to ask what can we do about this
  • 00:03:11
    and so we started researching
  • 00:03:13
    what we can find out about plastic and
  • 00:03:16
    what we quickly realized well hold on
  • 00:03:18
    back up for a second we wanted to ask
  • 00:03:20
    what plastic can be recycled and what
  • 00:03:22
    plastic can be replaced
  • 00:03:24
    and so now when we started looking into
  • 00:03:26
    that type of plastic we've quickly
  • 00:03:27
    realized that not all plastic is created
  • 00:03:29
    equally
  • 00:03:30
    so broadly speaking plastic is divided
  • 00:03:32
    into seven main categories
  • 00:03:35
    and these categories are primarily
  • 00:03:37
    defined about the different chemical
  • 00:03:39
    properties that pertain to these
  • 00:03:40
    different types of plastic
  • 00:03:42
    and if we look at what plastic can
  • 00:03:44
    usually be recycled it's very common
  • 00:03:46
    that we can recycle three main types
  • 00:03:48
    and so those types would include pet
  • 00:03:51
    which is what a lot of our drinking
  • 00:03:52
    water bottles are made out of
  • 00:03:54
    we have high density polyethylene and
  • 00:03:57
    also
  • 00:03:58
    polypropylene and so these are what we
  • 00:04:00
    want to look for if we are using these
  • 00:04:02
    types of plastics then theoretically
  • 00:04:04
    these are plastics that we could recycle
  • 00:04:08
    and so to address that question we
  • 00:04:10
    decided to take a look at our ordering
  • 00:04:12
    list for the year of 2019. so within
  • 00:04:14
    this list we would have all of the items
  • 00:04:16
    that our lab consumed for its regular
  • 00:04:19
    research activities
  • 00:04:21
    and so we were able to get that list and
  • 00:04:22
    try to compile and break it down into
  • 00:04:24
    the different materials that we commonly
  • 00:04:26
    go through
  • 00:04:28
    and so once we did that we found a chart
  • 00:04:30
    that looks like this and so to explain
  • 00:04:33
    this to you on the y-axis we have
  • 00:04:36
    roughly the number of items that we went
  • 00:04:38
    through in the year 2019 based off of
  • 00:04:40
    our ordering form and on the x-axis here
  • 00:04:43
    we have the different types of materials
  • 00:04:44
    so for example
  • 00:04:46
    one of the items that we ordered the
  • 00:04:47
    most was filter tips which were made of
  • 00:04:49
    polypropylene
  • 00:04:52
    and the color code here represents a
  • 00:04:54
    couple different things first of all we
  • 00:04:55
    marked green as plastic materials that
  • 00:04:58
    we order that theoretically can be
  • 00:05:00
    recycled
  • 00:05:01
    we marked items in blue such as paper
  • 00:05:03
    towels and paper tissues as items that
  • 00:05:05
    are not plastic but could still be
  • 00:05:06
    recycled
  • 00:05:08
    and finally in red we have several
  • 00:05:10
    different materials that are just a lot
  • 00:05:12
    more difficult to recycle either because
  • 00:05:14
    of cost or in the case of nitrile gloves
  • 00:05:16
    because of a nitrile component that
  • 00:05:17
    makes them very difficult to reuse
  • 00:05:21
    and so this was very eye opening for us
  • 00:05:23
    and this encouraged us to keep going
  • 00:05:25
    further
  • 00:05:25
    and to think about what would be the
  • 00:05:27
    next steps and while this is all good in
  • 00:05:29
    theory we can see this from the ordering
  • 00:05:31
    list what we really wanted to know is
  • 00:05:33
    how much do we go through in a week and
  • 00:05:35
    so we wanted to go into the lab and
  • 00:05:37
    actually do our own experiment to find
  • 00:05:39
    out
  • 00:05:40
    how much waste we produce
  • 00:05:42
    and so to do this we actually found 12
  • 00:05:44
    volunteers who collected all of their
  • 00:05:46
    waste for an entire week
  • 00:05:48
    and once we had all that waste collected
  • 00:05:50
    we then sorted through it and divided it
  • 00:05:52
    into different categories based on the
  • 00:05:54
    item
  • 00:05:55
    and so when we did that we get
  • 00:05:58
    a waste
  • 00:05:59
    group that looks something like this
  • 00:06:02
    which is very interesting to us for
  • 00:06:04
    several different reasons first of all
  • 00:06:06
    down here in the bottom we can see that
  • 00:06:07
    we go through a massive amount of gloves
  • 00:06:11
    and i think it's a good reminder that we
  • 00:06:12
    should be conscious about how many
  • 00:06:14
    gloves we actually use and while gloves
  • 00:06:16
    are a very important part of research
  • 00:06:17
    activities in a lot of cases maybe we
  • 00:06:20
    don't need to be grabbing a fresh pair
  • 00:06:21
    however in a lot of cases we do need to
  • 00:06:24
    but it's just good to think that through
  • 00:06:26
    another thing that became very obvious
  • 00:06:28
    to us was that we were using some
  • 00:06:30
    materials that were made of plastic that
  • 00:06:32
    could easily be replaced by other items
  • 00:06:35
    so one example of this would be plastic
  • 00:06:37
    plate spreaders that we use to spread
  • 00:06:39
    microbiological cultures onto auger
  • 00:06:42
    plates
  • 00:06:43
    and rather than using
  • 00:06:45
    one time use plastic plate spreaders
  • 00:06:47
    this was something that we could easily
  • 00:06:48
    replace with glass blade plate spreaders
  • 00:06:51
    that can easily be sterilized before
  • 00:06:53
    each use
  • 00:06:56
    another great example that we were going
  • 00:06:57
    through quite a lot of were plastic
  • 00:06:59
    serological pipettes
  • 00:07:01
    and again this was something that we
  • 00:07:02
    could easily easily replace with glass
  • 00:07:04
    pipettes that can be
  • 00:07:06
    washed and autoclaved each time we need
  • 00:07:08
    to use them
  • 00:07:10
    and so this is just a good reminder that
  • 00:07:11
    we're thinking about how we can deal
  • 00:07:13
    with our plastic problem in laboratories
  • 00:07:15
    it's always good to replace items
  • 00:07:17
    whenever possible
  • 00:07:21
    and while that is good we also wanted to
  • 00:07:23
    try to quantify the rest of our waste
  • 00:07:25
    and we decided to do that by separating
  • 00:07:27
    it by weight
  • 00:07:29
    and trying to determine
  • 00:07:30
    what proportion of the total waste by
  • 00:07:32
    weight
  • 00:07:33
    is made up of different materials
  • 00:07:36
    and when we do that we get a pie chart
  • 00:07:38
    that tells us a lot of interesting
  • 00:07:40
    information first of all about 10
  • 00:07:42
    percent of our waste by weight is made
  • 00:07:45
    solely of gloves
  • 00:07:47
    about 16.5 percent of that waste by
  • 00:07:50
    weight comes completely from paper
  • 00:07:52
    and uh the largest portion of our waste
  • 00:07:54
    about
  • 00:07:56
    58 or 24 kilograms comes entirely from
  • 00:07:59
    plastic
  • 00:08:00
    and of that 24 kilograms about 11
  • 00:08:03
    kilograms or 45.8 percent could be
  • 00:08:06
    recycled
  • 00:08:08
    and so again after the order list after
  • 00:08:10
    seeing this data we decided to keep
  • 00:08:12
    following this through
  • 00:08:13
    and to see if it would be worth trying
  • 00:08:15
    to recycle this plastic
  • 00:08:17
    now this data only came from one week of
  • 00:08:19
    collection and we decided in order to be
  • 00:08:22
    more producible that we wanted to repeat
  • 00:08:24
    this process and so within our own lab
  • 00:08:26
    we repeated this process for a total of
  • 00:08:28
    four times and tried to compile all of
  • 00:08:30
    that data
  • 00:08:32
    and so we get two interesting figures
  • 00:08:34
    from this
  • 00:08:35
    we'll start with the figure on the right
  • 00:08:37
    this donut chart
  • 00:08:38
    and this is again showing the amount of
  • 00:08:41
    plastic waste on average that we
  • 00:08:42
    produced in one week and the proportion
  • 00:08:45
    that can be recycled in austria
  • 00:08:47
    and this
  • 00:08:48
    verified what we saw on the previous
  • 00:08:50
    slide that we get approximately 24-26
  • 00:08:53
    kilograms of plastic waste and
  • 00:08:55
    consistently about half of that waste
  • 00:08:56
    can be recycled
  • 00:08:57
    [Music]
  • 00:08:59
    now on the left here this bar chart we
  • 00:09:01
    tried to break down some of that waste
  • 00:09:03
    and get some more information out of it
  • 00:09:05
    and so this very top purple bar here is
  • 00:09:07
    showing the total amount of waste
  • 00:09:10
    in kilograms per researcher per year
  • 00:09:13
    so what this is saying is that on
  • 00:09:14
    average one researcher in our lab
  • 00:09:16
    produces approximately 34 kilograms of
  • 00:09:19
    waste
  • 00:09:20
    now below that purple bar we try to
  • 00:09:22
    break down that waste into the various
  • 00:09:24
    types that would be included there
  • 00:09:26
    so of the total waste polypropylene
  • 00:09:29
    which is a plastic that can be recycled
  • 00:09:31
    makes approximately 10 kilograms
  • 00:09:34
    so each researcher in our group on
  • 00:09:36
    average is producing 10 kilograms of
  • 00:09:39
    plastic per year
  • 00:09:40
    and while that might not sound like a
  • 00:09:42
    lot if we try to put that into something
  • 00:09:44
    that we can imagine a little more
  • 00:09:45
    readily this would be the equivalent of
  • 00:09:47
    approximately 11 000 one milliliter
  • 00:09:50
    pipet tips
  • 00:09:51
    which i think it's very obvious that
  • 00:09:53
    that is a massive amount of pipette tips
  • 00:09:55
    and we try to go through all these
  • 00:09:57
    different categories and break that down
  • 00:10:00
    and so again this really encouraged us
  • 00:10:02
    to keep going with this process however
  • 00:10:05
    we also wanted to expand it beyond our
  • 00:10:08
    initial laboratory and so we were able
  • 00:10:10
    to collaborate with other members of
  • 00:10:11
    green labs austria who also volunteered
  • 00:10:14
    to collect all of their waste and then
  • 00:10:15
    separated it out just like we did
  • 00:10:18
    and again we weighed all of this waste
  • 00:10:20
    we tried to put some numbers on it to
  • 00:10:22
    see if we see a consistent trend across
  • 00:10:24
    these different laboratories
  • 00:10:30
    and
  • 00:10:31
    we do
  • 00:10:33
    so again to walk you through this
  • 00:10:34
    particular graph on the y-axis now we
  • 00:10:37
    have kilograms for researcher per year
  • 00:10:39
    and then on the x-axis we have it broken
  • 00:10:41
    down into the different types of
  • 00:10:43
    material so pp for polypropylene
  • 00:10:46
    nitrile and mixed waste representing
  • 00:10:49
    items that are not plastic we have ps
  • 00:10:51
    for polystyrene and p e for polyethylene
  • 00:10:54
    and each of these
  • 00:10:56
    l1 l2 and l3
  • 00:10:59
    represents a different laboratory that
  • 00:11:00
    participated in this study and each of
  • 00:11:02
    these laboratories repeated this process
  • 00:11:04
    three to four times randomly throughout
  • 00:11:06
    the year
  • 00:11:08
    if we look specifically at polypropylene
  • 00:11:10
    we can see a couple of different colors
  • 00:11:12
    here the dark blue is representing
  • 00:11:14
    commonly used
  • 00:11:15
    polypropylene materials which would be
  • 00:11:17
    pipette tips eps falcon tubes and the
  • 00:11:20
    light blue would just represent other
  • 00:11:22
    items that are made of polypropylene
  • 00:11:25
    that aren't necessarily the commonly
  • 00:11:27
    used items
  • 00:11:29
    and while this is a lot of information
  • 00:11:30
    the big takeaway that we get from
  • 00:11:32
    looking at this data is that
  • 00:11:33
    consistently across different
  • 00:11:34
    laboratories
  • 00:11:36
    one of the biggest contributors to waste
  • 00:11:38
    is polypropylene which again is a
  • 00:11:40
    plastic that can be recycled
  • 00:11:44
    and so after seeing all of this within
  • 00:11:45
    our own lab within other labs that we've
  • 00:11:47
    been working with we decided that it was
  • 00:11:49
    worth our time and effort to develop a
  • 00:11:51
    recycling pipeline that we can implement
  • 00:11:53
    within our own labs and that we could
  • 00:11:55
    supply to other people
  • 00:11:57
    in case they wanted to do the same in
  • 00:11:59
    their own labs
  • 00:12:04
    so this brings me to the third part of
  • 00:12:05
    this presentation
  • 00:12:06
    which is discussing the implementation
  • 00:12:08
    of a plastic recycling pipeline
  • 00:12:12
    so to do this we tried to break it down
  • 00:12:14
    into three broad steps for plastic
  • 00:12:16
    recycling
  • 00:12:18
    step one would be the separation of
  • 00:12:19
    plastic materials very often when you're
  • 00:12:21
    recycling plastic it's very important
  • 00:12:23
    that you can separate it in a way that
  • 00:12:24
    makes it readily recyclable
  • 00:12:28
    so in lab materials we have two broad
  • 00:12:30
    types of plastic we have most of it is
  • 00:12:32
    being made of either polyethylene or
  • 00:12:34
    polypropylene
  • 00:12:36
    so in polyethylene we have things like
  • 00:12:37
    needle caps falcon tube lids and
  • 00:12:39
    polypropylene we have the eppendorf
  • 00:12:42
    tubes pipette tips the bodies of falcon
  • 00:12:44
    tubes
  • 00:12:45
    etc
  • 00:12:46
    and you'll see from this figure that we
  • 00:12:48
    also need to separate it into autoclaved
  • 00:12:50
    and non-autoclaved plastic
  • 00:12:52
    in almost every biological laboratory if
  • 00:12:55
    any waste has been in contact with
  • 00:12:57
    biological material it will need to be
  • 00:12:59
    autoclaved which is why we need to
  • 00:13:00
    separate it out
  • 00:13:02
    now a lot of people point out that
  • 00:13:03
    autoclaving is an energy-intensive
  • 00:13:05
    process
  • 00:13:06
    and they are absolutely correct
  • 00:13:08
    however we like to remind people that
  • 00:13:10
    regardless of whether or not you are
  • 00:13:12
    recycling this plastic it will need to
  • 00:13:14
    be autoclaved and so we're not
  • 00:13:15
    recommending to add additional
  • 00:13:17
    autoclaving steps we're just suggesting
  • 00:13:19
    that the plastic be separated ahead of
  • 00:13:21
    time and then autoclaved
  • 00:13:25
    other things to consider other than
  • 00:13:27
    the autoclaving and the separation of
  • 00:13:29
    plastic
  • 00:13:30
    is that of course if any of these
  • 00:13:32
    plastic materials have been in contact
  • 00:13:34
    with hazardous biological material or
  • 00:13:36
    toxic materials it simply cannot be
  • 00:13:38
    recycled
  • 00:13:39
    and this is not something that should be
  • 00:13:41
    new for any laboratory every laboratory
  • 00:13:44
    has protocols in place on how to deal
  • 00:13:46
    with any hazardous or toxic materials
  • 00:13:48
    and so that should always take priority
  • 00:13:50
    and none of those materials should go
  • 00:13:51
    into the plastic recycling pipeline and
  • 00:13:53
    i think that's a very important point
  • 00:13:56
    to remind people
  • 00:13:58
    but in summary for the first step it's
  • 00:14:00
    important to separate the plastic and
  • 00:14:01
    autoclave it if you need to if it has
  • 00:14:03
    been in contact with live cultures
  • 00:14:07
    step two after knowing how to separate
  • 00:14:09
    the plastic would be collecting the
  • 00:14:11
    plastic
  • 00:14:13
    the important thing we like to tell
  • 00:14:15
    people is that communication is key and
  • 00:14:17
    the idea here is to make sorting as easy
  • 00:14:19
    and sensible as possible for your fellow
  • 00:14:21
    lab members
  • 00:14:23
    so for our particular group we tried to
  • 00:14:25
    come up with some informative labels
  • 00:14:27
    that would demonstrate what items need
  • 00:14:29
    to be recycled where
  • 00:14:31
    and in our case this looked something
  • 00:14:33
    like these where we have high density
  • 00:14:35
    polyethylene over here we're trying to
  • 00:14:37
    clearly show what can and what cannot go
  • 00:14:39
    into this recycling container
  • 00:14:41
    and for polypropylene we did the same
  • 00:14:43
    thing
  • 00:14:45
    now not every lab is going to use the
  • 00:14:48
    same visuals and this is does not have
  • 00:14:50
    to be a one-size-fits-all approach a
  • 00:14:52
    great example of this from another one
  • 00:14:54
    of our member labs who started this
  • 00:14:56
    process
  • 00:14:58
    is here where they took our design and
  • 00:15:01
    the basic concept of our design but they
  • 00:15:02
    redid it in order to better communicate
  • 00:15:04
    with their own lab members because they
  • 00:15:06
    found that this worked better for them
  • 00:15:09
    and so it does not matter how you
  • 00:15:10
    communicate this whether it's visually
  • 00:15:12
    or with words as long as it's clearly
  • 00:15:14
    communicated for the people that you are
  • 00:15:16
    working with
  • 00:15:18
    once you have come up with a good way to
  • 00:15:20
    communicate this we then recommend
  • 00:15:22
    putting those labels onto individual
  • 00:15:24
    smaller containers and supplying those
  • 00:15:25
    containers directly on the lab bench of
  • 00:15:28
    the people working in the lab
  • 00:15:30
    by doing this it makes it very easy for
  • 00:15:31
    researchers to recycle pipette tips
  • 00:15:34
    eppendorf tubes etc
  • 00:15:36
    as they are going about their uh day in
  • 00:15:39
    the lab
  • 00:15:41
    at another location in the lab in a
  • 00:15:43
    spare corner that you may have we then
  • 00:15:45
    suggest to put larger containers where
  • 00:15:47
    you can then take the smaller containers
  • 00:15:49
    when they're full put them into or dump
  • 00:15:51
    them empty them into the respective
  • 00:15:53
    larger containers which then already has
  • 00:15:55
    the plastic that can be sent for
  • 00:15:56
    recycling or autoclaved and then sent
  • 00:15:59
    for recycling
  • 00:16:00
    and so this is a great way that has
  • 00:16:02
    worked very well for us in order to
  • 00:16:04
    accomplish this
  • 00:16:07
    the final step and arguably the most
  • 00:16:09
    important is the recycling of the
  • 00:16:11
    plastic
  • 00:16:13
    now not all municipalities have the
  • 00:16:15
    option of recycling plastic and
  • 00:16:16
    depending on what city you live in there
  • 00:16:18
    may or may not be different options on
  • 00:16:21
    how to do this
  • 00:16:22
    but this was a very important concept
  • 00:16:24
    for us because we wanted to know that if
  • 00:16:26
    we collect our plastic is there anyone
  • 00:16:28
    who will take it and importantly we
  • 00:16:30
    wanted to know what happens to it
  • 00:16:33
    unfortunately a lot of times when
  • 00:16:36
    plastic or trash is
  • 00:16:38
    collected it's either incinerated or
  • 00:16:40
    sent to another country to be someone
  • 00:16:42
    else's problem
  • 00:16:43
    we wanted to make sure that that was not
  • 00:16:44
    happening with our plastic we wanted it
  • 00:16:46
    to be
  • 00:16:48
    recycled so unfortunately sometimes
  • 00:16:51
    that's not always straightforward so in
  • 00:16:53
    a lot of municipalities they may have
  • 00:16:55
    plastic recycling containers but if you
  • 00:16:57
    try to follow where that plastic goes
  • 00:16:59
    it's typically sent to another waste
  • 00:17:00
    company that then has many
  • 00:17:02
    subcontractors that will take that
  • 00:17:03
    plastic and if you try to follow this
  • 00:17:05
    trail it becomes often very ambiguous
  • 00:17:09
    and people either don't know what
  • 00:17:10
    happens to the plastic that they are
  • 00:17:11
    using or they simply don't want to
  • 00:17:14
    answer your questions
  • 00:17:16
    and while this is unfortunate there are
  • 00:17:18
    ways around this and uh we highly
  • 00:17:20
    recommend that you look for
  • 00:17:22
    organizations uh businesses or companies
  • 00:17:25
    within your local area that you can
  • 00:17:27
    collaborate with that would take your
  • 00:17:28
    plastic
  • 00:17:30
    so an example for us in vienna we were
  • 00:17:32
    able to team up with an organization
  • 00:17:34
    known as stopsal salmon for iron
  • 00:17:36
    gutensvek
  • 00:17:37
    which is a group that collects plastic
  • 00:17:39
    bottle caps and recycles them while
  • 00:17:41
    donating the proceeds to sick children
  • 00:17:43
    in austria
  • 00:17:45
    and we were able to contact them and ask
  • 00:17:46
    them if they would be willing to also
  • 00:17:48
    accept the plastic that we collect from
  • 00:17:50
    our laboratories
  • 00:17:52
    and they not only agreed but they also
  • 00:17:54
    put us in contact with the facility
  • 00:17:56
    where they recycle their plastic
  • 00:17:58
    and we were able to send two of our
  • 00:17:59
    members there
  • 00:18:00
    and confirm that all the plastic that we
  • 00:18:02
    recycle does get broken down into small
  • 00:18:05
    granules and then reuse to make new
  • 00:18:07
    plastic materials and this is a company
  • 00:18:09
    known as pre-zero which i believe also
  • 00:18:11
    exists at least in germany
  • 00:18:15
    and this was very important for us this
  • 00:18:16
    really closed the loop for recycling and
  • 00:18:18
    we were able to confirm
  • 00:18:20
    that everything we're doing would uh
  • 00:18:22
    lead to the recycling of plastic
  • 00:18:26
    and so this can be a challenging part
  • 00:18:28
    but
  • 00:18:29
    with a little effort i think that almost
  • 00:18:30
    any larger city within europe it should
  • 00:18:33
    be possible to find at least one
  • 00:18:35
    organization or
  • 00:18:37
    uh business that you would be able to
  • 00:18:39
    work with
  • 00:18:42
    so to give a broad overview of this
  • 00:18:43
    entire process we of course recommend
  • 00:18:45
    that you replace any unnecessary plastic
  • 00:18:47
    consumables and then you break this down
  • 00:18:50
    into three steps first identifying and
  • 00:18:52
    separating the plastic secondly
  • 00:18:53
    collecting the plastic and finally
  • 00:18:55
    making sure it gets recycled responsibly
  • 00:19:00
    so to wrap up this entire presentation
  • 00:19:02
    and give some concluding remarks i again
  • 00:19:04
    want to come back to the important point
  • 00:19:06
    that communication is key
  • 00:19:09
    if you're thinking of trying this out in
  • 00:19:10
    your laboratory what we would recommend
  • 00:19:12
    doing is working with a smaller group
  • 00:19:14
    first if you can find two or three
  • 00:19:16
    people who are willing to give this a
  • 00:19:17
    try
  • 00:19:18
    and see how it goes they will be able to
  • 00:19:20
    give some feedback on what works and
  • 00:19:22
    what doesn't and i think that's an
  • 00:19:24
    important step before trying to roll it
  • 00:19:26
    out to a much larger lab group that's
  • 00:19:28
    what we tried and it worked very well to
  • 00:19:30
    work out some of the kinks
  • 00:19:32
    and of course it's always good to be
  • 00:19:33
    adaptable if you identify any areas
  • 00:19:36
    where you can completely remove plastic
  • 00:19:39
    that's always the primary goal
  • 00:19:43
    and while this can be a very daunting
  • 00:19:45
    process we also try to give as many
  • 00:19:47
    resources as possible
  • 00:19:49
    for labs that want to start doing this
  • 00:19:51
    so on our website
  • 00:19:52
    www.greenlabsaustria.et
  • 00:19:56
    we have a resources tab at the top of
  • 00:19:57
    our page and under those resources we
  • 00:19:59
    have an entire section devoted just to
  • 00:20:02
    plastic recycling
  • 00:20:04
    so we try to supply all the information
  • 00:20:06
    that we have found as we did this
  • 00:20:07
    process
  • 00:20:09
    and importantly we also have a section
  • 00:20:11
    for frequently asked questions
  • 00:20:14
    and so these are questions that we often
  • 00:20:15
    get from our own members and we have
  • 00:20:17
    tried to compile all of those and put
  • 00:20:19
    those on the website to make it
  • 00:20:20
    available for anyone who wants to check
  • 00:20:22
    it out
  • 00:20:29
    with that
  • 00:20:30
    that is a quick overview of our plastic
  • 00:20:32
    recycling pipeline of course if you have
  • 00:20:33
    any questions at all you can always
  • 00:20:35
    email us at info greenlabsaustria.et
  • 00:20:39
    we'll do our best to answer any of your
  • 00:20:40
    questions
  • 00:20:41
    and i have to say a big thank you to all
  • 00:20:43
    of the core members of green labs
  • 00:20:45
    austria who really made this possible it
  • 00:20:47
    was a lot of work and research to bring
  • 00:20:49
    all of this together and there's no way
  • 00:20:50
    any one of us who could have done it on
  • 00:20:53
    our own
  • 00:20:54
    we'd also like to thank our
  • 00:20:56
    group leaders for being so supportive of
  • 00:20:58
    this process and allowing us to
  • 00:21:00
    implement this within our own labs
  • 00:21:03
    um of course you can always follow us on
  • 00:21:04
    twitter
  • 00:21:05
    for greenlabs austria the sales network
  • 00:21:07
    also has a twitter account now and so
  • 00:21:10
    this is a great way that we use to
  • 00:21:12
    communicate a lot of new information
  • 00:21:13
    that we get
  • 00:21:14
    so we
  • 00:21:15
    love to have you follow us and
  • 00:21:16
    communicate that way as well
  • 00:21:20
    and uh with that again thank you and uh
  • 00:21:22
    we look forward to hearing from you if
  • 00:21:23
    you have any questions
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