Green Labs
With the help of dedicated task forces formed by lab users, the Green Team leads the transition towards greener labs within the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences.
The Pillar for Green Labs (Sustainable Lab Operations) aims at making the activities in our department 鈥済reener鈥 by reducing the environmental impacts of our labs. Our vision is to set a benchmark for sustainable lab practices, fostering a culture of environmental responsibility among researchers and staff.
To transition towards greener labs, we based our work on the Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF). LEAF is an accreditation-based programme comprising promoting sustainability and efficiency in research and teaching laboratory spaces. The LEAF criteria guide our lab users towards implementations of lab practices, including energy efficiency, waste management and circularity, research quality and personnel engagement.
Living sustainably is living smart 鈥 let's protect our planet.
During 2024, all wet-lab research divisions of the Pharmaceutical Sciences Department progressively joined the LEAF program. The pioneering efforts of the Green Team members in these divisions have been instrumental in establishing a robust foundation for accelerating the transition to "Green Labs" at Utrecht University. This transition is being carried out in collaboration with the other Green Teams of the Faculty of Science, Geosciences and Veterinary Medicine, the operational departments responsible for energy management, procurement, waste handling, and circularity, as well as the national network of Green Labs NL.
