Pharmacy is a finalist in the Green Gown Awards
The School of Pharmacy has reached the finals of the Green Gown Awards 2013 with their Sustainable Superheroes entry. The Awards recognise achievements in sustainability initiatives across all areas of university life, but the category that Pharmacy entered – Staff and Student Engagement – was the most popular of all, so becoming a finalist is an even greater accomplishment.
It all started with a competition championed by two members of Pharmacy’s Eco Committee – committee chair Paul Cooling and PhD student Arpan Desai.
In the summer of 2012, teams of staff and students were invited to implement ideas to reduce the environmental impact of their day-to-day operations. The judges were looking for creative ideas that were cost effective, had a positive impact on the environment, reduced carbon emissions, and had the potential to be scaled up. The School of Pharmacy saw a summer of intense energy and competition, kick-starting multiple programmes for change.
Over the three months of the competition, eight teams tackled areas such as:
- Energy efficient lab practices, including water bath and vacuum pump use, solvent extraction, freezer storage and defrosting
- Chemical sharing database to reduce wastage
- Reuse of glass vials through in-house washing and sterilisation processes
- Food waste
- Environmental inductions for postgraduate researchers
- Technology to reduce standby energy consumption
- Travel to conferences
Teams were tasked with submitting a detailed written report, as well as presenting their work to a panel of expert judges and peers on finals day. The Green Avengers team finally won out but the competition has inspired staff and students across the School to consider sustainability in their working practices.
Since last year’s competition, Pharmacy have been busy with Electrici-tea Break events aimed at encouraging building users to switch off equipment before they leave for the weekend; another competition adapted this year for individual entry; increasing recycling rates; and developing a ‘green’ area on the School’s workspace.
The winners of the Green Gown Awards 2013 will be announced at a ceremony in November 2013.