How a small team at IH is making lab testing services greener

September 17, 2025

A medical lab technologist in a lab in Kamloops. Hospital labs run 24 hours a day, seven days a week to test blood, urine and tissue samples. Testing is done around the clock to help doctors and nurses provide timely diagnoses and treat patients.

Behind a heavy metal door with an orange biohazard sign at Penticton Regional Hospital is laboratory services. Here—and at labs like this across Interior Health (IH)—dedicated professionals test and process patients’ blood, urine and tissue samples 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The lab buzzes with activity and the whir of instruments. Lab professionals in blue gowns and gloves move about, placing samples in centrifuges and high-tech analyzers. Technologists sit at microscope stations evaluating blood cells and assessing culture plates for disease-causing pathogens. Others screen patients for compatible blood products. In an adjacent room, technologists inspect and prepare tissue slides for pathologists.

A lab technician wearing a blue smock stands at a machine in a laboratory. — A lab assistant places a sample in an analyzer. Analyzers like this one measure common biochemistry levels such as sodium, potassium and other electrolytes, as well as dozens of other tests such as enzymes and drug levels.

Lab testing is the highest volume activity in medical care. With thousands of tests performed every day across the IH region, it’s hard to fathom the amount of energy and materials labs use—everything from vials and tubes to personal protective equipment, electricity and solvents.

In this Story…

An opportunity for climate action

Starting with the quick wins

The launch of the Environmental Sustainability Lab Focus Group

A green checklist

Gaining momentum and national attention

An opportunity for climate action

Until now, lab operations had been largely overlooked as an opportunity for climate action.

Christine Henderson, a clinical sustainability coordinator with IH’s Environmental Sustainability team, jumped at the chance to investigate ways to make IH’s labs more sustainable when she was an intern in 2023.

“It’s a complex process,” says Christine. "A lab is governed by accreditation standards that ensure patient safety and quality of care. Our goal was to identify lab sustainability opportunities that maintain or improve the highest standards of care.”

Two people in business attire and wearing lanyards stand together in a conference room. — Christine Henderson (L) and Dr. Launny Lowden presented Greening the Lab at the Health Quality BC Quality Forum in February 2025.

Starting with the quick wins

Together with a small team of passionate professionals, Christine started what's known as an opportunity investigation. They focused on changes that could be easily implemented as a trial run.

One such quick win was switching from using sterile water to tap water for thawing frozen, sealed plasma bags. Sterile water is costly, takes a lot of plastic and energy to produce and ship and isn’t necessary for thawing.

A person with short blond hair and glasses wearing a blue sweater demonstrates how a machine works. — Roxy Suchan, a lab professional practice leader, with a plasma thawer. Thawers are now filled with tap water instead of sterile water, a switch that saves numerous plastic bottles, energy, greenhouse gas emissions and money.

Another quick win was shutting the sash on fume hoods, which are used to protect workers from chemicals like methanol and formalin. When the sash is left open, the hoods can use as much as three homes’ worth of energy in a day.

A person in a blue medical gown behind glass works in a closed room in a lab. — A technologist works with chemicals in a closed-off room. Shutting the sash on fume hoods like the one seen here can save significant amounts of energy.

The launch of the Environmental Sustainability Lab Focus Group

When the opportunity investigation phase was complete, the Environmental Lab Sustainability Focus Group was born.

Today, 10 hospital labs are participating in the IH Laboratory program’s focus group. Committee members—which include lab technologists and assistants, pathologists, digital health professionals and biosafety officers—meet regularly to discuss progress. The goal is to expand existing environmental sustainability solutions, and action them regionally as part of the annual Lab program plan.

A person in a blue gown and blue gloves leans over a sink as they hold a dropper and brown vial. — Medical lab technology sciences practicum student Caylan Gale prepares a slide for the microscope. At the Kootenay Lake Hospital lab, a system to collect slide stainer waste diverts dyes and other chemicals from going down the drain.

“The importance of the IH Laboratory program’s coordinated approach to sustainability cannot be overstated,” says Christine. “It synchronizes asks of leadership, facilitates collaborative problem solving, and accelerates adoption of beneficial change.”

A green checklist

One of the outcomes of the opportunity investigation and project was a lab sustainability checklist. Checklists are used to share pre-approved changes, measure progress and collect information on baseline practices. Sustainability champions action the checklist with lab staff at their sites.

Items include simple actions like turning off lights and stopping the automatic printing of reports, which is expected to save 500,000 sheets of paper per year.

A person with a long ponytail wearing a pink medical top holds a mouse as they look at a computer. — Sohal Pandya, lab operation supervisor and sustainability champion, reviews the Greening the Lab Checklist for the Penticton Regional Hospital lab.

Gaining momentum and national attention

The project, which is still in its early days, has already garnered national attention and awards.

In November 2024, the KLH Laboratory was awarded the 2024–25 Green Lab Award from the Canadian Association of Pathologists.

In 2025, IH adapted the Greening the Lab Opportunity Investigation into a playbook for CASCADES, a national organization dedicated to promoting sustainable health care in Canada.

In March of this year, Christine Henderson and Dr. Lowden were selected to speak about the project at Health Quality BC’s 2025 Quality Forum.

“Two of our labs have also signed up for Using Labs Wisely, a program focused on the appropriate use of lab tests,” explains Dr. Launny Lowden, a pathologist and executive medical director. “Some of the changes are cultural, such as shifting away from habitual testing that isn’t valuable or necessary for the patient. By making sure a patient gets the right test at the right time for the right reason, we are providing higher quality care and saving the environment.”

A person wearing a long-sleeved blue top and carrying a smiling baby in a backpack stands on a bridge in a forest. — Dr. Lowden hikes on a trail in the Kootenays, where she lives with her family.

Environment and health intertwined

Greening the Lab is one of many sustainability initiatives across IH. Other initiatives and projects are underway, such as expanding our fleet of electric vehicles, and Greening the Pharmacy and Greening the Operating Room opportunity investigations. This work is all connected to actions listed under IH’s Climate Change and Sustainability Roadmap, released in 2023.

A person with long grey hair wearing a jean jacket stands on a treed path. — Karen Ranger, chair of the Environmental Sustainability Lab Focus Group, has been a lab coordinator for 15 years. She's seen how small, intentional changes embedded into daily operations can create a lasting, positive impact. Karen was instrumental in bringing Sugar Sheet (tree-free paper) to 90% of IH's labs.

Climate change is an urgent public health issue and is among IH’s strategic priorities.

“By changing the climate, we put people’s health—and our health-care systems—at risk,” Christine says. “Making health care more sustainable protects patients now and in the future. It’s not just about the planet. It’s about taking care of people too.

“And we’re just getting started.”