Sustainability in the Chemistry Department

At Macalester, the Chemistry Department has an emphasis on sustainability. Heather McCollor, the Laboratory Materials Supervisor who has been at Mac for nineteen years, has worked to create the best practices to make the department as sustainable as possible. McCollor operates under a philosophy of “Rethink, reuse, recycle” in order to cut down on costs as well as reduce the products that need to be purchased. Her biggest priority is reducing the chemicals and materials the department orders. She does this, in part, by never ordering more of a chemical than can be used in on semester. She also tries to find a chemical already on campus or in the area if it is only needed for one time use, rather than ordering it. Chemical batches that are made wrong in some way are incorporated into a new batch so as not to waste it as well.

McCollor also does a number of simple things that add up to make the department more sustainable. One part of this is finding ways to repurpose all of the packing materials that come with supplies. For example, styrofoam peanuts are taken to a business that ships items and styrofoam coolers are given to ITS on campus. Cardboard boxes are saved for moving or packaging during the holidays. Old solvent jars are cleaned and repurposed for holding chemical waste. McCollar has only had to purchase around seven new containers in the eighteen years she has worked at Mac. She also tries to stay on top of the sustainable practices available in the industry. For example, she recently purchased recycled gloves for labs. However, the gloves must be sent back the vendor for recycling which is costly. For this reason, McCollar hopes that new alternatives are developed so Mac can continue to use the gloves. Overall, the many practices put in place in the chemistry department help to make the school more sustainable over all, and result in the budget of the department remaining the same over time, despite the costs of materials going up.