By Kenneth Kuhn, Nikola Čanigová, and Saki the Artist 6 labs. 2 weeks. 400 gloves. 1 artist. Scientists at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) collaborated with Saki the Artist to create a unique couture ball gown made entirely out of nitrile glove waste. Used gloves were collected by scientists from 6 labs and donated to Saki, who spent over 200 hours meticulously stitching them together into a corseted dress, complete with a petticoat made from bubble wrap packaging sourced from shipment containers from the same labs. Saki debuted the finished garment at the Vienna Ball of ..read more

Sustainability Workshop The dependency of a modern lab on single-use plastics from fossil fuels that end up in incineration plants has been growing at an alarming rate. However, we are just at the beginning of exploring circular solutions that could enable recycling of this plastic back into the life science industry. The solution necessitates a collaborative effort across the entire plastics value chain. Green Labs Austria, Merck, and the University of Vienna are organizing the workshop “The sustainable lab of the future: rethinking single-use plastics” at the University Biology Building (UBB ..read more

by Kirsty Waight, Prof. Dr. Nuno Maulide, Dr. Daniel Kaiser, Dr. Kerry Elgie, and Logan Hodgskiss The Maulide Group at the University of Vienna (Austria) describe how a devastating water leak in a nearby chemistry laboratory prompted them to search for alternative, water-free, options to Liebig condensers for refluxing. The group teamed up with Green Labs Austria to see if they could provide and share a more sustainable solution to water cooled refluxing in the lab. DrySyn MULTI / CondenSyn ‘Green’ refluxing set-up. Green Labs Austria (https://greenlabsaustria.at/) is a non-profit association ..read more

by Nikola Čanigová, Irene Steccari, and Logan Hodgskiss Starting a green initiative within a building or institute can be a daunting task.  Although many will agree that this is a good idea, finding the people and resources to make it work can be challenging.  A multitude of green groups and initiatives have been started all around the world, and many of these have faced similar setbacks and challenges when trying to get off the ground.    Even the implementation of small changes can be hampered by a persistent resistance to change. Even so, these changes are still possible ..read more

Our member Prof. Lea Ann Dailey from the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Vienna is part of ‘IMPTOX‘, a multidisciplinary EU research project investigating the effects of micro- and nanoplastics on human health. The project is featured in a recent article published in the daily Austrian newspaper ‘Der Standard’. We congratulate Prof. Dailey on her involvement with such a pressing research topic! Furthermore, Green Labs Austria is delighted to be mentioned in the print version of the article (see cover picture & clipping below). It’s great to see one of our members ..read more

by Hayk Palabikyan and Thomas Pribasnig As stated in previous articles, the plastic waste produced in bioscience labs is a problem that requires immediate action. We will not achieve our goal of sustainable science without systemic change, but as universities and policy makers are unwilling to act, what we are left with is making a positive impact in our daily lablife. The principle  REDUCE – REUSE – RECYCLE helps to diminish the plastic footprint and should also be applied in labs.  As a crucial first step, we urge all scientists to think thoroughly about their experiments and ..read more

We are absolutely delighted to share with you this short movie about our initiative. It was planned, filmed and produced over the past few months by Maria Pinto, our marine biologist colleague and filmmaker. This movie summarizes our motivation for starting Green Labs Austria and outlines our approaches for a sustainable research culture. As a whole, it is a call for action! We are grateful for Maria’s efforts and thank the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Vienna for financial support ..read more

We wanted to recycle our plastic waste in the lab but had no idea about its fate. By Lena König and Thomas Pribasnig Everybody who has worked in a molecular biology lab knows that the turnover of plastic products is extremely high. In the heat of the moment, we go through dozens of little, pristine plastic tubes that end up in the general waste within hours or even minutes of usage. Plastics are a valuable resource In Austria, this general waste gets picked up by the municipal waste collection services and is then incinerated with energy recovery. While burning plastic waste prevents plastic p ..read more

Plastics lecture: our member Lena König recorded a 40-minute lecture on global plastic production and waste, plastic emissions, and plastic pollution ..read more

Life science research is energy-intensive and generates a large amount of plastic waste, and yet, there are hardly any initiatives to reduce the ecological footprint in Austrian laboratories. To meet this need, a group of students and postdocs started the project Green Labs Austria last year at the University of Vienna. Since then, a non-profit association has been founded and the website greenlabsaustria.at has been launched. The initiative’s purpose soon became clear: Green Labs Austria wants to transform the day-to-day lab work of diverse life science institutions towards sustainable resear ..read more