Algonquin College nursing cuts waste, and costs, by greening labs

Algonquin College will soon share its sustainability work on a national stage. Nursing faculty Sheena Barton and Nancy Lada from the School of Health Studies will present the College’s Greening the Lab initiative at the 2026 Canadian Association of Schools of Nursing (CASN) Biennial Canadian Nursing Education Conference, offering a model that other institutions can adopt.

Greening the Lab is an initiative that cuts waste, lowers costs and strengthens hands-on learning by reusing and recycling nursing lab supplies that are normally single-use, but never come into contact with patients. The project reduces the program’s environmental footprint while ensuring students develop essential clinical skills throughout their education.

Barton and Lada, who help lead and manage the initiative, describe the goal as simple: order smarter, use only what is needed and rethink how supplies move through the labs.

“It is about shifting the mindset from want to need,” Barton said. “When we track what students actually use, we can order more effectively and assemble kits with greater intention.”

Barton added that the work reflects a broader understanding of health. “It is about looking at planetary health in our community,” she said. “We are using green or recycled stock in our health sciences labs. It is a way of paying it forward to the cohort that comes after you.”

At the start of each term, nursing students receive lab kits. At the end, they voluntarily return the entire lab kit for greening. Next, faculty and technologists, including Barton, Lada, (supported by technologist Mike Daniel) sort, catalog and redistribute the supplies. Many items return to nursing labs, while others support hands-on learning across the College.

This includes:

• Early Learning Centre (ELC): cotton balls, drape pads and similar items become materials for creative play, sensory activities and outdoor learning.

• Veterinary Technician: a variety of items including gloves, pads and syringes without needles support animal care training.

• Personal Support Worker (PSW): repurposed supplies help simulate real world care scenarios.

Items that once went directly to landfill now support multiple programs.

Environmental awareness has long been part of Algonquin’s nursing culture. Other student projects reduced plastic waste on campus, contributed to the introduction of water refill stations and brought recycling bins into health science labs. Student involvement continues each fall with a group of community health nursing students (BScN) completing a course project connected with Greening the Lab.

These early efforts have grown into a year-round sustainability initiative. Lab kits, introduced in 2018, reduced the number of supplies needed for skills training but also created new waste streams. Many items, such as unused needles or IV bags, were being discarded despite never being used on “patients” in the education setting. The Greening the Lab initiative has changed that.

In 2019, a new phase began as faculty examined how materials were purchased, used, and discarded. By applying the principles of reduce, reuse, recycle, rethink and repurpose, they were able to cut waste without compromising student learning.

Now in its seventh year, the project continues to expand. Early data shows clear savings for both students and the department. The initiative has also strengthened collaboration across the College. Early learning educators, for example, regularly share how repurposed materials enrich their classrooms.

“We share labs, we share resources and we share responsibility for sustainability,” Barton said.

Greening the Lab also supports Algonquin College’s broader sustainability goals, including commitments to Indigenous worldviews. The team hopes to work with Indigenous artists and Elders to highlight the connection between health, land and community.

What began as a modest student project has become a powerful example of how sustainability, education and innovation can work together.

To learn more about the Greening the Lab initiative, contact Sheena Barton.