Less Waste, Zero Regrets

“Because of student advocacy and faculty leadership, our lab practices have changed and, with it, we’ve reduced waste and cost across the natural sciences,” says Caitlin Jacobs, LSA’s first-ever sustainability manager. Photography by Doug Coombe

For those at LSA leading sustainability efforts in labs and classrooms, the math is simple: The daily energy to run a single fume hood—a device critical to ventilating labs and keeping air quality safe—is equivalent to the energy it takes to run three average-size households per day. The Chemistry Building, where more than 7,000 undergrads take classes each semester—has 500 fume hoods. “That energy—and cost—stacks up,” says Caitlin Jacobs, LSA’s first-ever sustainability manager.

“Student researchers see opportunities in their labs that I otherwise might not, especially when it comes to the equipment they work with every day. A fume hood that isn’t fully utilized could be shut down, a freezer of samples we no longer need could be decommissioned, or an oven used for drying could be placed on a timer,” Jacobs continues. “Because of student advocacy and faculty leadership, our lab practices have changed and, with it, we’ve reduced waste and cost across the natural sciences.

”These efforts are just some of the examples of the work being done by Jacobs and Anne McNeil—the Carol Fierke Collegiate Professor of Chemistry and the Program in the Environment and faculty sustainability advisor—along with faculty across LSA, to empower students to effect change in their own research and education.

Peter Toogood (left), a research associate professor at the College of Pharmacy, donates supplies at the Lab Swap Shop to Sam Kocurek, sustainability and safety liaison with the Office of Campus Sustainability. 

“From undergrads to graduate students to faculty, we’re all witnessing the amount of resources we use every day and becoming more aware of our personal footprint,” says McNeil. “We’re teaching students to first look at their own two feet.”

Other examples include lab supply swaps in which they partner with the U-M Office of Campus Sustainability, washing machines for petri dishes and pipette tips, specialty recycling, and a waterless Findenser air condenser to cool reactions instead of relying on a running faucet. 

These projects are either student-initiated or student-run. For example, a sustainability committee of chemistry graduate students volunteer to support and give back to the department, and the use of Findensers evolved directly from concerns raised by students on that committee. “I’ve been super energized by the students’ passion. It inspires all of us,” says McNeil.

“A lot of resources and waste inadvertently go into the education of our next generation of scientists and doctors. Empowering students to take responsibility for their environment adds to that education,” she continues. “They’re applying the skills they’re cultivating as student-scientists—experimentation, innovation, creativity, observation—to effect change in their own environment.”

These waste-reducing efforts help address practical problems, too. From older, energy-inefficient facilities, to concerns about funding, there is a great imperative to find creative solutions to increase sustainability and save resources.

“Lab supply reuse and water reduction effort is a ‘zero regrets strategy,’” says Jacobs. “It’s giving us the opportunity to teach students to operate in new ways, while at the same time saving the university resources, and helping everyone think long-term about our stewardship of our local and global communities.”

McNeil and Jacobs say this kind of change is uniquely positioned to thrive in a community like LSA. “No other place on campus has been investing as much money in making the teaching and research mission more sustainable,” says McNeil.

Alexandria Galens (B.S. ’23), a sustainable labs project coordinator, at the Lab Swap Shop, which has saved researchers more than $1 million in equipment and supply costs.

“Interdisciplinary thinking is key to doing good sustainability work,” says Jacobs. Further, mentorship is key. “We need buy-in from everyone. It’s especially powerful for our students to see faculty like Anne using their expertise and creativity, and making a commitment to sustainable lab practices. It makes students see that they can do the same in their own research career.” 

Jacobs says this clarity and consistency around the importance of sustainability in their own work leads LSA students and faculty toward “active hope.” “We try to encourage students to see their surroundings as a ‘living lab.’ When so many components of the climate crisis feel beyond individual action, it’s empowering to see your own practices having a cumulative effect,” she says. 

“This is the next generation of not only scientists, but also members of the broader workforce,” says McNeil. “When we teach students to engage in these practices and to know their changes have real, lasting impact, it has a ripple effect. 

“They’re going to take that awareness of waste-reducing efforts and accountability for their own footprint with them throughout their lives,” she continues. “The change doesn’t stay in the lab.”

Learn about the use of waterless Findensers in LSA labs in a video story at myumi.ch/lsa-findensers.

Findenser video by Natalie Condon, Liz DeCamp, and Tatum Poirier