Page 18 - PERIODIC Magazine Issue 6

In
Turning green to gold

Sue Henderson, Chair of the Green Impact Team and EA to the Heads of
Department and Administration, describes how the Department of Chemistry
leads the way towards efficient and sustainable use of resources.

We have solar panels on the Chemistry Research Lab and was an easy thing to do, but encouraging people to always
Chemistry Teaching Laboratories; we have exchanged our use them is still a challenge. Our Team, a mix of staff and
plastic cups and cutlery for compostable items in our café students, enjoy a challenge, and we have met quite a few in
and installed reminders to keep fume hood sashes pulled the past five years.
down in our laboratories in order to conserve energy and
enhance safety. What more can we do? A lot more! In the beginning we thought it would be difficult for the
Department to reduce its environmental impact but we
found an appetite amongst staff and students to become
involved, and in that first year (2013-14) felt that to achieve
Bronze in the National Union of Students Green Impact
Awards would be the height of our ambition. That year we
won three awards and that has been our aim year on year.
From Bronze we leapt to Gold, and then dreamt of making
our laboratory usage more sustainable – we started with
Labs Silver and then obtained Labs Gold. We have been
awarded Gold for the past four years, and Gold for our
laboratories for the past three years. And then to cap it all,
we were awarded the University’s first Excellence award
in 2016-17; quite an achievement for a department often
imagined to be one of the most environmentally unfriendly
in the University.
Who are we, and why do we care?
But we have to aim higher and dream of more Gold, and
We are the Green Meanies, the Green Impact Team for the
Department of Chemistry. We have been working for the even more excellence! To achieve excellence for our
past five years to try and reduce the impact that running a laboratories must be our goal, and we are forming a plan to
department like Chemistry can have on the environment. achieve this.
If you visit our buildings you will find plants everywhere, We care because we want to help the University to meet its
brightening the working environment and helping to filter carbon reduction target and to show that a large scientific
out atmospheric pollutants. Installing more recycling bins research establishment can work to reduce its energy
consumption and carbon footprint. We will continue to
work towards helping to make our environment safer and
healthier, as well as saving energy and money.

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Periodic The Magazine of the Department of Chemistry