SDG 12 : Responsible Consumption and Production

Scientific laboratories are essential to research and teaching, but they can also be intensive users of energy, water, chemicals and single-use materials. 

Across University of Limerick (UL), teaching and research laboratories are changing everyday practices to reduce their environmental impact, with Green Lab certification providing an external framework for that work.

In Chemical Sciences, three of four teaching laboratories achieved Platinum re-certification in December 2025. Changes to laboratory teaching have also produced measurable reductions in material use and waste. 

Glove purchasing indicates an approximately 62% reduction in glove use over the preceding 12 to 24 months, while redesigning one practical to use smaller volumes reduced its waste by 58%. A further laboratory method, amended by Dr Clare Crowley working with a final-year project student, achieved a minimum 77% reduction in waste, while also reducing the associated use of reagents and distilled water. 

Chemical Sciences also incorporated sustainability guidance into Brightspace modules and trialled teaching practices using fewer materials and less harmful chemicals. 

In Biological Sciences, undergraduate laboratories achieved Green certification at 83% and postgraduate laboratories achieved Platinum at 73%. 

A Green Team survey reported that 97% of students switched off equipment when it was not in use, while all respondents reported closing fume hood sashes and turning off taps or reporting leaks. 

Sustainable laboratory practices are supported through staff and student training, a Green Action Plan handbook, guidance in undergraduate laboratory manuals, regular Green Team meetings and practical reminders within laboratories. The approach extends into UL's specialist research facilities. 

In February 2025, Actuate Lab achieved the highest Green Lab certification for both its crystallisation and electrical testing laboratories. 

In November, the Bernal Institute's biological laboratories also achieved Green Lab certification, recognising work to reduce energy, water and consumable use and improve waste segregation.

Managing campus waste involves both reducing disposable materials and providing systems for collection and recycling. 

In 2025, University of Limerick (UL) reported that reusable-only cups in one campus restaurant avoided the disposal of 19,000 disposable cups.

UL is pursuing Green Flag accreditation for waste and provides a Deposit Return Scheme point on campus to support the return and recycling of eligible drinks containers. Reducing single-use materials is also part of this work. 

In 2025, the switch to reusable-only cups in one UL restaurant prevented 19,000 cups from going to landfill. Buildings and Estates also manages the disposal of chemicals through environmentally sound and safe disposal practices.

Plastic is part of everyday life, but it can be difficult to recognise how much we use or where responsibility for reducing it lies. 

Between September and November 2025, students taking University of Limerick's PA4003 module examined their own plastic consumption before considering the wider role of businesses and public policy in reducing plastic waste. 

Each week, students photographed the contents of their recycling bins and identified which plastics could be reused, recycled or avoided. The exercise turned their own consumption into material for investigation, asking them to look critically at the types of plastic they were using and where that plastic came from. 

Students then moved beyond their own behaviour to examine the choices made by companies producing or using plastic packaging. 

Each student wrote to a company identifying packaging they considered unnecessary and suggesting alternatives. They also considered whether their recommendations had a place within the Government of Ireland's Climate Action Plan 2024. 

Working in groups, students brought their findings together and presented them through Google Sites. The assignment combined research and critical analysis with policy writing and direct engagement with businesses, connecting individual consumption with some of the wider systems that influence how plastic is produced, used and discarded.