Lab Clean-Up Pilot Helps Researchers Purge Items from Lab Spaces
Over 800 laboratory items and over 1000 chemicals were removed from lab spaces during a recent lab cleanup effort. In summer 2025, the CU Boulder Green Labs Program led a Lab Clean-up Pilot event in three large campus lab buildings (Ramaley, Porter, and Gold) in collaboration with key campus partners (Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S), Property Services, Property Accounting, property managers, building managers, and researchers). The goal was to provide lab members with a simplified and fast process to purge items they no longer needed from their research labs. From a sustainability perspective, CU Boulder Green Labs was interested in the pilot to help shift lab spaces being used for storage back into spaces for research.Given that laboratories are one of the most energy-intensive spaces on campus due to ventilation needs, efforts to keep lab spaces focused on research benefits energy efficiency, and is aligned with lab space optimization goals included in the campus Climate Action Plan.
To drop-off a lab item:
- complete an EH&S Green Tag Sticker
- fill out an online form to provide information on the item being dropped off.
Chemicals containing barcodes that were already within the campus chemical inventory system can also be dropped off.
Two drop-off locations were staffed by student employees of Green Labs for 3 weeks with additional support from EH&S. Pilot funding for student staffing was provided by a grant from I&R Sustainability. Over the course of 3 weeks, roughly 800 lab items and 1,005 chemicals were dropped off by lab members. Lab members were also allowed to “shop” for items and chemicals they wanted. EH&S transferred requested chemicals from one lab inventory to another and roughly 30 pieces of equipment were redistributed to labs.
At future Lab Clean-up events, Green Labs plans to do more to help repurpose useful lab items and chemicals and encourage lab members to consider nominating unneeded items sooner to the Green Labs Core for re-distributions before they become obsolete.
If you would like to see a future Lab Clean-Up event held in your lab building, reach out togreenlabs@colorado.edu.
