Culture

Sustainability starts with people

Every lasting change in a lab starts with people. You can have the best intentions and the newest equipment, but if your colleagues aren't on board, nothing sticks. Culture is about the habits, conversations and small acts of leadership that turn sustainability from a one-person mission into something the whole lab owns.

The encouraging part is that shifting culture rarely costs a thing. It's about how you talk to your team, win over management, celebrate the small wins, and make the sustainable choice the easy one. Whether you're the only champion in your lab or building a wider network, this is where the momentum is made.

Read the blogs below for practical, no-cost ways to bring your colleagues with you.

The Hum Stops Here: Save Energy by Turning Off BSCs

In a previous Greening the Bench post, Switch Off to Save: Tackling Plug Load in the Lab, we explored how small changes to equipment habits can cut energy use. This time, we’re focusing on biosafety cabinets, a crucial piece of lab equipment often left running 24/7. Simply switching them off when not in use can save energy without compromising safety. Understanding Biosafety Cabinets Biosafety cabinets (BSCs) are vital for protecting both samples and operators. They provide a

Nov 11, 2025

Switch Off Together: Building a Shutdown Culture in the Lab

We’ve talked before about plug loads and the energy wasted by equipment left on unnecessarily, a hidden but significant cost to both budgets and sustainability goals. (See our Switch Off to Save blog for more detail on that.) But there’s one thing that’s harder than installing a plug timer or putting up a sticker: building a culture where everyone takes responsibility for switching off. Shutting down lab instruments and kit at the end of the day isn’t something one person can

Oct 6, 2025

Sustainability Isn’t a Solo Sport: Why Green Team’s Make Every Lab Stronger

If you’ve ever tried to make your lab more sustainable and felt like no one else cared, you’re not the only one. You notice the plastic waste piling up. You wonder why machines are left running. You spot chances to do better, but it feels like you’re the only one seeing them. A lot of people care. But when you go it alone, it can feel isolating. That’s why green teams matter. Working together makes things easier and more effective. Small Teams, Big Results Some of the biggest

Aug 11, 2025

Switch Off to Save: Tackling Plug Load in the Lab

When we think about energy use in laboratories, we often picture the big players such as ultra-low freezers, fume hoods, HVAC systems as we’ve touched on in previous blogs. But hiding in plain sight is a more subtle, yet significant contributor to lab energy waste: plug load. That’s the term for all the energy drawn by equipment simply plugged into a socket and in many labs, it’s quietly consuming power even when no one’s around. Plug load: The hidden cost of idle equipment P

May 27, 2025

Do You Really Need That? Reducing Waste Through Equipment Sharing

Labs are packed with equipment, workhorses like centrifuges, spectrometers, and stirrers. But step back and ask: how many of them are actually in use right now? The truth is uncomfortable. Many labs have equipment that sits idle, while the lab next door buys another version of the same thing. This isn’t just inefficient but wasteful, expensive, and environmentally unsustainable. If we’re serious about sustainability in science, we need to stop normalising this culture of isol

May 1, 2025

The Power of a Closed Sash: Maximising efficiency and safety in VAV Fume Hoods

In the world of laboratory work, safety and efficiency are non-negotiable. One of the most critical elements in this equation is the fume hood—a vital safety device designed to protect you from hazardous fumes, vapours, and particulates. But did you know that airflow is often the most energy-intensive process in laboratories across the UK? To put this into perspective, a typical office requires 4 to 10 air changes per hour (ACH). In contrast, laboratory settings demand 6 to 3

Jan 23, 2025

Greening the Bench: Your First Steps for Actionable Change

Welcome to Greening the Bench, your go-to resource for transforming the way we conduct scientific research with sustainability at the forefront. Science labs are notoriously resource intensive environments, consuming five to ten times more energy and three to five times more water than traditional office settings. If scientific research were a country, it would rank 40th in CO2 emissions. Additionally, research laboratories generate approximately 5.5 million tons of plastic w

Jan 15, 2025