The first thing to do is conduct a waste audit to determine how much waste is being disposed into traditional waste streams and if particular items comprise a large percentage of the total. Some initial steps to take are:
- Contact the supplier(s) of the wasteful items and ask if they have substitutes that are less wasteful.
- Research substitutes - for instance, substitute reusable items (pipettes, glassware, etc.) for the current ones being disposed of. Substituting washable glass items for disposable plastic items is a great way to do this.
- Right-size purchases to reduce throwing out expired or excess items.
- Discover ways to reduce packaging. This could include steps such as ordering in bulk if the items will be used in time, consolidating orders, and ordering from suppliers who utilize less packaging.
- Check with the ACT. Database16 before ordering. (Detailed discussion in next section.)
- Before discarding equipment or even reagents and supplies, check whether other labs, including school and university labs, might be able to use them. Having worked for some time at a university, we were always happy to receive donated items - even expired ones.
- Look for items made from recycled, reusable, or renewable sources.
- Use refillable pipette tip boxes.
