On Thursday, Aug. 29, UNC Green Labs met with Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz. UNC Green Labs gave a presentation on what the organization does, in hopes of future support from the Chancellor. The presentation was about current programs and implementations as well as future plans.
At this meeting, Green Labs’ current recycling programs were introduced. These programs include plastic film recycling in collaboration with Fisher Scientific. Additionally, Green Labs has also implemented a nitrile glove recycling program in collaboration with VWR. With these programs, Green Labs hope to reduce the amount of waste produced in labs.
Green Labs is also creating a campus-wide homogeneous environment through the implementation of a Green Labs certification program. This program is modeled after other institutions’ green lab certification such as Harvard and Cornell. There will be different levels of certification for the individual labs, such as bronze, silver or gold certification.
In addition to plastic, styrofoam is another material that needs to be recycled in UNC research labs. Green Labs hopes to create and implement a styrofoam recycling program in the near future. Currently, there is a week-long styrofoam recycling drive once a year, but Green Labs want to create a more permanent and continuous solution.
In the future, Green Labs hopes to have a larger presence on UNC’s campus with support from the Chancellor and administration. This can be done by increasing UNC Green Labs’ presence on social media to put their mission and efforts in the public eye.