Sustainable Lab Certification Project

Amount Awarded: $13,400.00

Academic Year: 2023-2024

Implementation: Winter 2024 – Spring 2024

This project is a sister project to the Sustainable Office certification, which is managed by the Sustainability Engagement Institute. The Sustainable Lab Certification provides Western’s scientific and research labs with educational outreach and toolkits that they can use to learn and implement more sustainable practices. In addition, the grant provided funding for ten of these labs to receive sustainable supplies to try out, free of charge. 

Participating labs are required to complete an audit, which contains comprehensive and well-researched questions that gauge their sustainability efforts, and upon completion, receive a ranking of Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum. The scoresheet comprises four categories where labs have environmental impacts: energy, waste, purchasing/inventory, and training/education. Also included are links to resources labs can explore to further their knowledge of sustainable practices. Even though the official grant has been completed, campus labs can still participate in the program itself. Find out more about the program, as well as see which campus labs have already gone through the certification process.