{"id":12612,"date":"2025-08-04T09:33:54","date_gmt":"2025-08-04T13:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/sustainability\/?p=12612"},"modified":"2025-08-04T09:33:54","modified_gmt":"2025-08-04T13:33:54","slug":"sustainability-at-cart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rochester.edu\/sustainability\/sustainability-at-cart\/","title":{"rendered":"Reducing waste to move research forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

The URochester, a leader in biomedical research, healthcare, and bio-solutions<\/a>, is taking steps to integrate environmental responsibility in its everyday research practices.<\/p>\n

At the heart of this work is the Center for Advanced Research Technologies (CART)<\/a>, along with one of its integral facilities, the Biological Supply Center (BSC). By centralizing resources, minimizing waste, and fostering collaboration, CART\u2019s facilities are reducing the environmental footprint of research while also promoting a collaborative culture that accelerates scientific discovery.<\/p>\n

What is the Center for Advanced Research Technologies (CART)?<\/h1>\n

CART is the University\u2019s central resource for cutting-edge biomedical technologies (e.g., genomics, flow cytometry, microscopy) that enable advanced research across the University. CART supports 3,000+ researchers from 500+ labs in the biomedical and healthcare research sectors.<\/p>\n

If researchers\u2019 experimental needs are beyond their lab\u2019s capabilities, they can benefit from using CART\u2019s advanced facilities and state-of-the-art equipment. CART also provides support with experimental design and data interpretation, providing an outlet for \u2018team science\u2019\u2014 a collaborative approach that leverages the strengths and expertise of research professionals\u2014to thrive. In the last year, 311 research labs utilized CART\u2019s core facilities.<\/p>\n

The benefits also extend to environmental sustainability. By lowering the need for individual labs to have resource-intensive instruments, CART helps to minimize the number of instruments that will be difficult to recycle or repurpose in the future.<\/p>\n

“CART supports sustainability by helping reduce waste,\u201d says Megan Crawford, Senior Marketing Strategist for CART. \u201cScientific instruments are large and made of metal and plastic. At some point, they expire and need to be replaced.”<\/p>\n

Several of CART\u2019s facilities feature sustainability as a fundamental component. For instance, the Cold Storage Core<\/a>, a centralized freezer bank on top of the Medical Center, helps prevent excess energy from being directed to multiple freezers across different lab spaces.<\/p>\n

The Biological Supply Center (BSC), CART\u2019s internal ordering and distribution center for reagents and consumables, also has a long list of sustainable advantages.<\/p>\n

The BSC: Where shipping meets sustainability<\/h1>\n

When labs order supplies through the BSC, they receive not only negotiated pricing, but help to reduce waste and emissions through the use of consolidated shipping.<\/p>\n

For example, consider the common need to order enzymes. By ordering from a single enzyme supplier through the BSC, the research community saves up to 3,640 shipments from that supplier annually. This drastically reduces packaging waste, which for lab supplies often means cardboard boxes, packing materials, Styrofoam, and unrecyclable plastics. Considering that the BSC has approximately 20 vendors from whom they regularly order, consolidated shipments reduce an immense amount of waste. Fewer shipments also mean fewer greenhouse gas emissions from the production of extra packaging materials and the shipping of redundant packages.<\/p>\n

Inspired by the grassroots efforts of the University\u2019s Sustainable Labs Initiative<\/a> (SLI), Inventory Planning Coordinator and My Green Lab Ambassador Michael Hughson has recently piloted several other sustainability initiatives at the BSC:<\/p>\n