CHU NANTES (44)
A "GreenLab
When it comes to environmental initiatives, there's strength in numbers. At the end of 2019, volunteers from several CHU laboratories decided to set up a sustainable development working group called GreenLab.
" We had attended an Inserm seminar, where they presented what they had initiated in their research laboratories," explains Anne-Laure Bauduin, a hospital engineer at the Preimplantation Diagnosis Laboratory,Institut de biologie, CHU de Nantes. " Several small independent workgroups were then set up, without any coordination. A few months later, on the technical platform that brings together a dozen genetics labs, we decided to act together: we created paper, plastic, Dasri, Daom and energy groups to work mainly on waste reduction. " Labs produce a lot of waste. " We didn't evacuate it for a week to get a better idea of the quantity..."
The Covid pandemic slowed things down, but during this period GreenLab made itself known to management. It now takes part in Copil sustainable development meetings, to keep abreast of site-wide actions and present its own initiatives. " For the past two years, for example, we have been replacing single-use plastic consumables with glassware, test tubes and petri dishes, which we clean ourselves when there are no sterilization constraints. The same applies to sterilized water bottles, which are now supplied in 10-litre containers by the laundry! Another achievement is the sorting of plastic and the evacuation of yellow bags on a voluntary basis.
" We also manage the ice packs that suppliers don't collect when reagents are shipped. We have set up collection points in the labs, and redistribute them to various internal departments, such as emergency, orthopedics and traumatology. We also deliver to the lactarium, the operating theatre and the catering department. The surplus is donated to associations, which use it for sports, schools, or the fight against food waste. " In all, 1.7 tonnes of ice cream loaves donated in just under two years! Not to mention the astronomical quantity of polystyrene boxes, which also find a second life in the fight against food waste, storing foodstuffs instead of ending up in incinerators.