Sustainable Laboratories (LEAF)

What is LEAF?

The Laboratory Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF) is a certification scheme designed to enable staff and students to understand and improve the sustainability and efficiency of their laboratory areas.

The Framework criteria focus on areas like equipment, people, waste, sample and chemical management and research quality.  Completion of the criteria by users allows them to achieve a sequential Bronze, Silver and Gold standard for their lab areas. One of the key features of LEAF is that it allows users to quantify both financial and carbon savings, so that each area can see first-hand how much of a difference their actions make. Find more resources here.

 

Who can take part?

LEAF teams are very flexible and are set up and organised by the local users.  Anyone can initiate and lead a team from technical staff and lab managers to research staff and students.  A team might be a research group, a group of staff and students working in a single lab area or technical staff working across a group of labs, it’s designed to be flexible. 

The type of Lab areas that can participate is broad and covers teaching, wet labs, IT labs, engineering labs, workshop and behaviour labs.  LEAF is not designed for implementation across whole buildings.

How to get started?

If you would like to take part in LEAF please register using this form, you can also join our Green Labs Teams Group.

Following registration, you will be set up on the online toolkit. You will also be given access to the QMUL Green Labs SharePoint site, where you will find further information and resources to help your team on it’s sustainability journey.  Your team will be given a list of clear and easy to implement environmental actions that should be carried out over the year (you may well already be doing some of them them).  These actions are subdivided into Bronze, Silver and Gold criteria which you progress through in turn. The actions are not time intensive and most teams should be able to achieve bronze level with 2 - 4 hours’ worth or work. When you are ready, you can submit your lab for an audit.

What are the benefits of implementing LEAF?

• Environmental sustainability certification through a nationally recognised scheme.
• Reduction in utility costs and environmental footprint
• Enables a bottom-up sustainability movement 
• Aligns with Institutional sustainable development goals and Strategy 2030
• Inter-lab and inter-departmental benchmarking and internal audit system
• Creates a greater understanding within the Queen Mary community of our science operation and buildings and can help to integrate different lab areas and departments
• Practice-based learning experiences can help to improve professional skills and employability for the staff/students working on the toolkit
• Increases research efficiency by including criteria that focus on reproducibility and research quality
• Funding bodies are moving towards including environmental criteria in funding calls and LEAF would contribute towards satisfying these

Testimonies

10 laboratory teams achieved the Bronze LEAF award in 2021-22. Find out below what they thought of the scheme:

Dr Valentina Rapisarda, Teaching Technician Manager in the School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences said: “When the LEAF-Green Lab Certification Scheme was launched at Queen Mary, I welcomed this as an opportunity for me and my team to improve our waste disposal procedures in our labs and communicate these to our students and staff members using our facilities. 

With a little bit of effort and creativity, we have recently managed to receive the LEAF Bronze Award and we are extremely proud of this. We are now looking forward to progress to the next step, which will be the Silver award. 

I strongly encourage other labs within Queen Mary to become part of the LEAF-Green Lab Certification Scheme. With little effort from lab members/users, we can have a strong and hopefully long-lasting impact.” 
 
Dr Pamela Swiatlowska, Postdoctoral research Assistant in the School of Engineering and Materials Science said: “As members of younger generation, we pay particular attention to making a positive impact on the environment. Unfortunately, laboratory byproducts, such as plastic packaging or constantly turned-on electrical equipment, are indifferent to the environment. Therefore, as scientists we want to minimize as much as possible the lab environmental impact, a side effect of our work. 

Taking part in LEAF was an excellent teamwork experience, working altogether for a good cause. Implementing changes to be more planet-friendly, does not require a huge effort, but it can make a significant difference. Start small and go green!” 

LEAF teams who achieved Bronze Awards in 2021-23

LAB NAME	SCHOOL/INISTITUTE	CAMPUS	AWARD RECIEVED
Biology Teaching Labs	School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences	Mile End	Silver
The River Communities Group, River Laboratory, Dorset	School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences	Mile End	Bronze
Chemistry Teaching Labs	School of Physical and Chemical Sciences	Mile End	Bronze
Cancer Imaging LG60-LG46	Barts Cancer Institute	Whitechapel	Bronze
Abernethy Teaching Labs	Blizard Institute	Whitechapel	Bronze
Green Bishops	Blizard Institute	Whitechapel	Bronze
Blizard Laboratory Management	Blizard Institute	Whitechapel	Bronze
EECS Electronics Teaching Labs	School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science	Mile End	Bronze
SEMS Laboratory 236	School of Engineering and Materials Science	Mile End	Bronze
SEMS Laboratory 237	School of Engineering and Materials Science	Mile End	Bronze
SEMS Laboratory 238	School of Engineering and Materials Science	Mile End	Bronze
SEMS Laboratory 239	School of Engineering and Materials Science	Mile End	Bronze
Cell and Tissue Engineering Laboratories 240 A-G	School of Engineering and Materials Science	Mile End	Bronze

For any queries please e-mail Kate Thornton LEAF Coordinator at sustainability@qmul.ac.uk