Lee Hibbett

The University of Nottingham

Three years ago, I set up the Technical Sustainability Working Group (TSWG) for The University of Nottingham (UoN). The TSWG is a group of lab technicians from across all UoN UK campuses, working to see where best practices from different departments can be rolled out to the whole University.

So far, we have:

• Removed water condensers from chemistry labs and replaced them with air condensers, saving over 3 million litres of water.
• Become the first university to pilot a new solvent recycler to recycle waste acetone, saving 2,000l acetone a year that would otherwise go for disposal.
• Set up polystyrene recycling across the university
• signed up to the Lab Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF).
• Set up a Midlands Innovation Group universities sustainability committee, with the aim of getting technicians and sustainability teams working together to share ideas.

Annual carbon savings achieved with the initiative:

• CO2t savings 2021/2022: e3.16 tonne (Estimated).
• CO2t savings 2022/2023: e11.4 tonnes (Estimated).    
• CO2t savings over the life cycle of the project: e>12 tonnes/year indefinite (Estimated).

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What the Judges Thought

You have gone above and beyond to not only embed sustainability into your role and team, but to ensure the good practice is spread across the University, and beyond. By taking on a secondment within the sustainability team, your technical expertise around labs and sustainability is built into decision-making and will influence many more people than if you'd solely operated within your own lab.

The Distimatic is a great solution and we would encourage you to promote its use to other universities and beyond. The listed initiatives were replicable and well presented, with  good evidence of how this goes above and beyond normal duties. You have shown how to take responsibility in your specific role and how you can influence the sector! 

What it Means to Win

"I am delighted that Lee has received this prestigious award in recognition of his work to Champion Sustainability within our Technical staff and laboratory environments. Lee has galvanised others at the university with his dedication and innovative ideas, which is helping to drive sustainable behaviours and activity across the University."

Professor Shearer West, Vice Chancellor

Top 3 Learnings

1. Old ideas are not always the best – new ways of thinking can make a big difference.
2. Sustainability requires investment – don’t be afraid to ask for the money to do it!
3. Talk to your technical staff about their work areas – they will have some excellent green ideas.