In Fall 2024, Dr. David Connors and Dr. Thomas Robilotto launched a simple but powerful idea in the organic chemistry labs: stop wasting water.

Traditional condensers ran continuously from the tap—using nearly 18,000 liters in just one class session. Instead, they introduced small recirculating pumps, like those used in aquariums, allowing each student to reuse just one liter of water.

The result was remarkable. Water use dropped by 99%, saving an estimated 3 million liters annually in a single course. What began as a sustainability project quickly became a model for change—now expanding to labs across the department. This is one example of green chemistry in action.

During this lab, I tried to follow the green chemistry principles by using the least amount of materials as possible and reducing waste whenever I could. This was new to me since these principles were not emphasized in my previous labs. But I definitely noticed myself making some changes. The biggest thing I noticed myself changing was the amount of acetone I used when cleaning my glassware at the end of the lab. In previous years, I used to fill up flasks or beakers with acetone when cleaning them. This semester, I just put a small amount and swished it around. I used mostly water to clean up most of my glassware. This helped lower the total waste and use less harmful chemicals. I was also a lot more careful when measuring chemicals and transferring solutions. If any of the chemicals spill or get lost during transfers, that creates waste. Another change I made this was how much acetone or acetic acid I was using. Usually that was one of the main solvents for some reactions. Instead, we used ethanol which is a lot less harmful. To improve even more in my future labs, I would continue using less solvent, making less waste, and planning steps better to before starting reactions to be more efficient. Overall, the green chemistry principles helped make the lab safer, more efficient, and better for the environment.