Biomedical Laboratory Scientists want greener laboratories: Attitudes and practices in waste management

Abstract

Sustainability and environment are topics with increasing importance. We all have responsibility to make the way towards a more sustainable society shorter, and it also applies to medical laboratories. Department of Medical Biochemistry and Pharmacology (MBF) at Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at Helse Bergen wanted to get an overview of knowledge and attitudes about waste management among the employees. In the project, an anonymous questionnaire was answered by 131 employees at MBF (response rate 39 %). The purpose of this mapping was to be able to use the results in the way forward towards a greener laboratory. The results show that cardboard and paper, soft and hard plastics are the most sorted, and in general it is perceived as easy to sort at the workplace. But there may be room for improvement, such as greater availability and better labeling of waste containers, and more training. Despite the positive attitude towards source sorting at the department, the study shows that the participants are willing to become even better.

Keywords

• sustainability
• waste management
• questionnaire
• green laboratory activities