This award puts the spotlight on laboratories that have worked on successful industry collaboration.

This year has seen more collaboration across multiple disciplines than ever before. The Francis Crick Institute won this award for the successful collaboration with industry partner Bywaters that has enabled the Crick to achieve waste solutions, increase recycling and reuse significantly.

“The successful collaboration with our industry partner Bywaters our resource management specialists, has enabled the Francis Crick Institute to achieve waste solutions, increase recycling and reuse significantly.” – Rajnika Hirani, Head of Sustainability, The Francis Crick Institute

The partnership has made lasting contributions to The Crick’s operations, that fully resonate with their ideology. Together they have completely overhauled the waste management programme – floor by floor – achieving zero waste to landfill and making The Crick the only research facility in London to compost uncontained animal bedding and to send laboratory offensive waste to energy recovery. As a minimum requirement, Bywaters set out to send zero waste to landfill, an achievement The Crick were fully on board with. This was delivered, alongside significant recycling improvements across the board, even during the pandemic. Since 2017, the on-site recycling rate has increased by 26.3%, with 72% of waste generated now being recycled or reused. Currently, 820 tonnes of waste is being produced annually, this represents a significant recycling swing of around 215 tonnes in the last 4 years. Alongside the recycling improvements, a key goal has been to change the way that clinical waste was being disposed of. In 2017, 76% of this material was being classified and disposed of as hazardous clinical waste. Bywaters has worked to correctly reclassify and meticulously segregate this waste where appropriate, reducing the amount of hazardous clinical waste being produced to just 42% of the 82 tonnes produced annually.