(See science.easternblot.net/labwaste for inspiration, full credits, and links to original photos.)

We've all been told to reduce, reuse, and recycle when it comes to our households. But in the lab, unless there is an underlying money issue, this rarely comes into play. In cell biology or molecular biology labs the emphasis is on working sterile, quickly and reproducibly. So companies have been selling all these incredibly useful products to life science labs: sterile plastic tubes of all shapes and sizes, single wrap multi-well tissue culture plates, sterile plastic dishes, sterile pipettes. All these products make it a lot easier to do the required work. I can't even imagine how you could work in a cell culture lab without them, but they do create a lot of waste.
I made this video as a creative outlet and to try and raise some awareness of all the disposables in the lab, and give some mild suggestions on how to reduce the pile of trash by a tiny amount. Every bit helps, right?

Featured on WorldChanging (worldchanging.com/archives/008876.html )and the Creative Commons site ( creativecommons.org/weblog/entry/10126 )

Imagine Science Film Festival Pick of the Week (4th week of April, 2009)