When Sustainability Meets Science

Most Laboratory professionals acknowledge that sustainability can be a challenging topic. Laboratories are environments that consume large amounts of energy with their use of temperature-controlled equipment such as freezers and chillers as well as other specialist equipment. In fact, they can typically consume three to five times more energy than office buildings, with some specialist labs often consuming even more.¹

At NSF our testing labs take this challenge seriously. Year by year, we make strides to reduce energy consumption and be more sustainable whilst performing testing to support NSF standards to the same consistently high levels as required. In this article we examine three key areas of progress at NSF’s testing lab in Wales, UK.

Located in Oakdale in Wales, UK, NSF has one of the world’s largest specialised test laboratories for water fittings, and serves clients from around the globe. Here we test products including water pipes, plumbing fittings, faucets, valves, materials in contact with drinking water and more. Testing supports a number of regional programmes including NSF REG4 certification, NSF TMV certification, WRAS approval or BS 6920 testing to comply with UK regulations.

Being a water product testing lab, the lab naturally uses plenty of one of the planets most precious resources, water.

So, as it becomes increasingly important for everyone to conserve water and use it carefully, it’s impressive to see what the team in our laboratory have achieved. From 2022 to 2023 the lab saved 324 million litres of water (85 million US gallons) per year! To put it into perspective, that’s nearly 130 Olympic sized swimming pools worth of water. This was achieved in a number of ways including installing a closed loop system for all product test rigs in the lab. An impressive 95% of water is recycled due to this process.

There’s also a relentless focus on cutting the lab’s environmental footprint by using less energy. From 2022 to 2023 our team reduced energy consumption by 19% through implementation of energy efficient measures across the site. Every aspect of energy use is examined. For example, a rigorous new maintenance programme for the heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems was implemented which contributed to the efficiencies. What’s also impressive is that all this was achieved whilst increasing the volume of testing being performed.

Waste management is also crucial to running a lab in an environmentally responsible manner. The lab in Wales has adopted a circular economy approach for a number of years. In fact, recycling of lab waste streams is consistent with UN Sustainable Development Goal 12, "Responsible Consumption and Production” and the Welsh Government focus of businesses being able to recycle all waste streams. At Oakdale, all waste streams, including paper/cardboard, glass, tins, wood, metal, WEEE, batteries, are meticulously segregated and then responsibly recycled and handled by a licenced waste contractor with certificates issued.

Working in a more sustainable manner is not a choice for our labs, it’s an imperative. It’s also part of our mission to improve human and planet health.

“Sustainability is at the core of our NSF values. The continuous improvement strategies that NSF in Wales has adopted are not only focussed on productivity and improving client service. They also fully embrace our company mission of improving human and planet health.” Simon Hubbard, Senior Director Global Laboratories

Sources:

¹ www.arup.com/insights/low-energy-laboratories/