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Sustainable Labs Award

As a follow-up to the creation of the McGill Sustainable Labs Guide, the Sustainable Labs Award programme was launched in Spring 2018.

An initiative from the Sustainable Labs Working Group, the Sustainable Labs Award recognizes efforts made by members of McGill laboratories to make their labs more sustainable by integrating environmental, social and economic considerations into the way they work.

2018 Winner: Ebrahim (Eby) Noroozi

On September 14, 2018, Associate Vice-Principal (Research and Innovation) presented the inaugural Sustainable Labs Award to Eby Noroozi for demonstrating leadership in sustainable lab practices at McGill.

From left to right: Associate Vice-Principal (Facilities Management and Ancillary Services) Robert Couvrette, Sustainable Labs Award winner Eby Noroozi, Associate Vice-Principal (Research & Innovation) Sylvain Coulombe, and Vice-Principal (Administration and Finance) Yves Beauchamp. The group is standing outside on the lower campus in the shade of a tree on a sunny fall day, and Eby is proudly displaying his award plaque.
Image by Kathleen Ng.
From left to right: Associate Vice-Principal (Facilities Management and Ancillary Services) Robert Couvrette, Sustainable Labs Award winner Eby Noroozi, Associate Vice-Principal (Research & Innovation) Sylvain Coulombe, and Vice-Principal (Administration and Finance) Yves Beauchamp.

About the winner

Eby is a lab coordinator/supervisor at the Department of Food Science and Agricultural Chemistry teaching laboratory. His work includes supervising and instructing teaching assistants and students in the laboratory, Pilot Plant or course field trips; as well as management of lab activities, including health and safety issues.

Rationale

The last inspection result from May 2018 achieved score of 87%, with NO sustainability issues (of the six on the inspection checklist) flagged by the inspector.

Highlights of achievements:

  • Designing experiments to replace hazardous chemicals with safer substitutes
  • Environmentally friendly purchasing policy for chemicals, sanitary products, and equipment; and mitigating unnecessary waste
  • Microchemistry initiative to reduce, recover and reuse chemicals where possible
  • Coordinate safe sharing of unwanted chemicals prior to disposal with HWM - even before implementation of MyLab – as well as sharing of equipment, supplies and glassware with others
  • Leadership in training (chemical recovery, quizzes that cover sustainability issues)
  • Optimizing use of cold rooms and freezers, operating fume hoods and other equipment sustainably (ensuring proper use and maintenance), prioritizing repair/reuse/redistribution of unwanted equipment (prior to disposal), implementing proper waste and recycling practices
  • Engaging with the broader community both on- and off-campus, in implementation of and exchanging on best practices for running sustainable labs.

This initiative was featured in the McGill Reporter article published on October 18, 2018.

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