Another Way to ACT

by "My Green Lab" and Bara Waters, Communications and Training Manager, Procurement Services, UCOP

‘My Green Lab’ is a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing sustainable practices within scientific research labs. Lab environments are extremely resource-intensive, consuming five times more energy per square-foot than typical offices and discarding over 12 billion pounds of plastic annually. And, that figure doesn’t even include the gloves, hazardous waste, and packaging waste discarded from labs on a daily basis.

At research universities, lab products can account for 25% of total annual procurement spend – offering an immense opportunity to reduce the environmental impact of labs through smarter purchasing and energy saving practices.

The opportunity to reduce the environmental impact of labs through smarter purchases is tremendous. To accomplish this, My Green Lab has introduced the ‘ACT’ label (Accountability, Consistency, Transparency) to identify the Environmental Impact Factor (EIF) of various lab products and make it easier to choose safe and sustainable products.

The ACT label is a way for scientists, sustainability directors, procurement specialists, and manufacturers to speak the same language. Previously, identifying third-party verified safe and sustainable products was very difficult. ACT provides a level of transparency that reflects the highest standards in sustainable procurement.

The ACT label reads somewhat like a nutrition label on a food product, with three main categories of evaluation: Manufacturing, User Impact and End of Life. Each of these categories includes sub-categories like: Manufacturing Impact Reduction, Renewable Energy Use, Responsible Chemical Management, Shipping Impact, Energy Consumption, etc. (see graphic for detail). Most categories are rated on a scale of 1-10. Reading the label is simple – the lower the score, the lower the environmental impact.

Use the ACT label to choose sustainable products and vendors in your purchasing. You can also ask whether a vendor has an ACT label, and if not, encourage them to get one. Tell them you want to see the ACT label. Access the ACT Database for a list of participating vendors.