Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 71.74
Liaison Carrie Metzgar
Submission Date March 5, 2021

STARS v2.2

University of California, San Diego
IN-19: Green Laboratory Program

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.50 / 0.50 Jennifer Bowser
Sustainability Program Coordinator
Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution have or participate in a green laboratory program?:
Yes

Does the institution’s green laboratory program address the following?:
Yes or No
Energy conservation and efficiency, e.g., fume hood ("shut the sash") and freezer maintenance programs Yes
Water conservation and efficiency Yes
Chemical use and disposal Yes
Materials management, e.g., green purchasing guidelines and recycling and reuse programs Yes
Training for lab users on sustainable practices Yes

A brief description of the institution's green laboratory program:
UC San Diego’s Green Labs program was formed in 2013 and its efforts engage laboratory faculty, staff and students in performing assessments, reducing waste and improving recycling, replacing inefficient equipment and transitioning to best practices. In 2016 the UC Sustainability Steering Committee approved policy that each UC campus must develop an ongoing green lab assessment program and action plan, with reporting on progress to the UC Office of the President in 2018, 2019, and 2020.

UC San Diego is ahead of the curve in meeting this new policy. In fact, in 2017 we won the 1st National Freezer Challenge sponsored by the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I2SL) and My Green Lab with funding from Thermo Fisher Scientific, Stirling Ultracold, Panasonic, Lilly, Labcon, and DryBank Labs.

The UC San Diego Green Labs program assists our over 900 labs in reducing their resource use and improving education and engagement efforts around these themes:

Electricity
Lighting
Cold storage and freezer management
Fume hoods and ventilation
Water
Inventory management
Recycling
Waste reduction
Hazardous waste disposal
Green chemistry
Travel
Field work (leave no trace)
Community (sharing BP’s; engaged scholarship)
Purchasing
Leveraging incentive/rebate programs
Utility usage reporting (transparency)
Autoclaves/Glass washing
Education (integrating Green Lab practices into UCSD classrooms)

UC San Diego has developed its own certification tool and to date have certified 100 labs through our Green Labs Certification program, the most in the UC System. Past and current projects:

- Packaging reuse
- Improved lab recycling signage
- Updated information in new PI info packets and training and in hazardous waste training
- Promotion of EH&S approved ethidium bromide alternatives to labs still using EtR
- Reinvigoration of EH&S's ChemCycle unopened chemical reuse inventory process
- Lab MSW and recycling waste audit
- Dark room and x-ray processing transition to digital
- Green Labs Sustainability Fair
- Shut the Sash Education, fumehood audits and transition to automated metering

Website URL where information about the green laboratory program is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.