A conversation with Hannah Morrissey about how the Wyss’ lab recycling program is leading to a more sustainable future
By Jessica Leff
Laboratories generate up to 5.5 billion kilograms, which is more than 12 billion pounds, of plastic waste each year. That’s nearly 12 times more waste per square foot than is produced in office spaces. The reasons make sense: single-use plastic is sterile, safe, and efficient. Often, labs don’t have the infrastructure needed to separate contaminated plastic and uncontaminated plastic. So, to follow biohazard waste regulations, all of that plastic ends up in the trash.
The Wyss’ mission has always been to take inspiration from Nature to develop solutions for the world’s most urgent challenges in healthcare and the environment and accelerate their path to market. With that focus on sustainability, our researchers were always conscious of how much waste was generated by their work. So, in 2021, after Harvard Environmental Health and Safety defined which plastics were safe to discard, the Wyss Operations Team began working with a lab recycling company to implement a system that allows our researchers to practice what they preach and work more sustainably.
The Operations Team set up recycling stations, customized signage to fit Wyss needs, and presented at lab meetings to ensure researchers understood the new system. To date, the Wyss has recycled more than 25,509 pounds of plastic, the weight of more than 7.5 mid-sized sedans, reducing more than 42,316 pounds of CO2 emissions, equivalent to the emissions from driving approximately 27,929 miles in the average passenger car. The team continues to find new ways to improve and expand the program.
We sat down with Lab Safety Advisor Hannah Morrissey to learn more about the lab recycling program, what makes it unique, what the team sees for its future, and why she’s excited about it.
To start, can you tell us a little bit about your background and your role at Harvard?
I studied environmental science, then started my career doing hazardous waste management before going into consulting. About a year and a half ago, I started working for Harvard Environmental Health and Safety, which is part of Campus Services. I work across the Longwood Campus at the Wyss Institute, Harvard School of Dental Medicine, and some other facilities around Harvard Medical School. My main tasks include annual lab inspections and helping with safety training, especially during onboarding. If any accidents or incidents do happen, I’ll respond and then see if anything needs to be changed to prevent something similar from happening in the future.
Had you heard about lab recycling before starting at the Wyss? How common is it?
There’s an organization called Cambridge Sustainable Labs that meets about four times a year to discuss topics like energy efficiency, recycling and waste management, and other ways labs in the area can be more sustainable. I’d joined some of their meetings, so I knew about it from that. Previous companies I’ve worked with tried various recycling initiatives, but none were as successful as the one at the Wyss. I’ve seen a few labs do it on an individual basis, but I haven’t seen many large institutions implement a program like ours.
What are the barriers to setting up a lab recycling program?
There are a few factors. One is contamination, especially in labs with higher biosafety levels. As you increase the level of risk and hazardous materials, it becomes harder to recycle items that might have been contaminated. Another barrier is cost. Labs have limited resources, and unless the whole institution sets a goal of reducing plastic waste, they will often earmark those funds for something else. You really need someone to champion changing systems already in place and to get buy-in from all the researchers. Finally, it may seem small, but space is a commodity in a lot of labs. I’ve been at places where they simply do not want to or cannot give up space for another recycling bin.
Why do you think the Wyss has been able to overcome these barriers?
Most places don’t have as robust or as centralized an Operations Team as the Wyss. Departments might have a single research operations manager, but they are tasked with so much and are working in shared spaces. I also think because the Institute is dedicated to sustainability, the team was empowered to do the upfront work to set up recycling, and now it’s just an expectation when people come in. It’s become part of the regular workflow.
And are we worried about contamination?
No, because the items we recycle don’t come into contact with chemicals or biohazardous materials. There are special bins in the lab for both #1 and #5 plastic collection, with signage explaining what can and can’t go in them. The most common items we recycle are buffer bottles and pipette tip boxes.
Buffer bottles generally hold non-hazardous solutions, and the pipette tip boxes generally don’t come into contact with hazardous materials. The pipette tips themselves get put into separate biowaste containers.
Are there any other recycling opportunities outside of the lab?
Yes. There are recycling bins all around the Institute for office waste and compost bins for food or organic waste. Our building’s landlord also facilitates specialized Styrofoam recycling and e-waste recycling.
What is coming next for the Wyss lab recycling program?
We’re piloting nitrile glove recycling, which is really cool. In August, we were able to recycle 239 pounds of gloves. Obviously, we aren’t doing this in the BSL2 spaces and will only recycle non-contaminated gloves. Further ahead, I would love to work towards getting a My Green Lab certification.
And finally, what makes you most excited about the Wyss lab recycling program?
I care a lot about sustainability in my personal life, so being able to bring that to the lab feels great. Something I’m really enthusiastic about is that we recently started working with a new vendor, which uses a circular economy system that focuses on recirculating materials at their highest value. Rather than traditional recycling, where high-use items, like pipette tip boxes, are transformed into items like garbage bins, which won’t be recycled again, the company uses our waste to produce new lab consumables. That’s great, because our goal is to keep as much plastic as we can in this closed-loop system and minimize single-use plastics.
If our innovations help keep patients out of the hospital, they will have a long-term positive environmental impact. In the short-term, we can make a difference by reducing lab waste through programs like this.
At my old company, when we would talk about sustainability in the lab, someone made the point that hospitals can also be bad for the environment. It’s estimated that hospitals produce more than 33 billion pounds of plastic waste a year. So, though we are creating a lot of waste, if our innovations help keep patients out of the hospital, they will have a long-term positive environmental impact. In the short-term, we can make a difference by reducing lab waste through programs like this.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.