Why Does Sustainability Matter?
Climate change is one of the biggest threats to our planet and humankind. Therefore it is frequently talked about in the news, politics, the science community, and many other places. As a result many companies are starting to reduce their carbon footprint and educating others on the importance of sustainability.
How Can Clinical Labs Affect Sustainability?
Like many other places, clinical labs are not immune to sustainability issues. As a matter of fact, there are four main areas clinical labs can reduce their environmental impact in four main areas: energy consumption, water consumption, waste production and use of hazardous chemicals.
How is Applied InGENuity Diagnostics Minimizing Its Environmental Impact?
- Renewable Energy – Our laboratory is currently powered by the Sun using Solar Panels and we are adding even more in 2023 with the goal of being energy independent. We use energy savings measures in the laboratory including monitoring climate control, minimizing or optimizing instrument usage and minimizing our actual laboratory footprint as much as possible. We try to use instrumentation that has auto-sleep functions or is designed to minimize background electric usage
- Electric vehicles – in 2023, we purchased a Chevy Bolt, a fully electric vehicle. Our goal is to build a fleet of electric vehicles used for routine courier activities to physician offices minimizing our carbon emissions on business activities that are necessary on a daily basis
- Plastics – When possible, we try to use reusable glass and washable items. Of course, given the nature of a laboratory, we have to use plastic consumables. We try to source these materials from vendors with a commitment to sustainability.
- Waste – like all laboratories, we generate biohazardous waste. By putting in Standard Operating Procedures with a focus on minimizing biohazardous waste production, we have significantly reduced our biohazard waste generation by more than 80% since 2021.
- Product Design – As we are developing more At-Home Collection kits, we are attempting to design kits that minimize packaging as much as possible.
- Paper Waste – We are ardent recyclers in the laboratory. We recycle as much paper as possible and when able, we use digitized materials to lessen the paper resources used in our laboratory. We put many of our resources on the web or attached to our products with the goal of minimizing paper usage
Looking To The Future
We’re always looking for ways to reduce our environmental impact and improve our sustainability efforts. We also want to provide the finest clinical lab service while doing so. We’re encouraged to see others recognizing our efforts as well as other healthcare professionals doing their best to minimize their environmental impact. We believe our efforts will impact many generations to come.