Sustainability also in practical exercises

At the Faculty of Science, sustainability is a long-term effort to reduce material consumption at various levels, even on small things – if possible. One recent example was the purchase of calculators for use in practical exercises. From a price point of view, of course, ordinary battery-powered calculators are cheaper, but they need to be replaced after a certain time. In the case of dozens of calculators, this means not only an additional financial cost but also the purchase of new batteries, which must be manufactured, transported, and used batteries recycled again (in the best case, when someone does not just throw them away in the regular waste). That is why we at the Department of Chemistry decided to buy slightly more expensive but more suitable calculators with solar power in terms of sustainability. In the future, we will also apply this approach to other electronic devices – we already use several external solar-powered keyboards. As far as possible, we also plan to purchase laboratory plastic made from recycled material.

Hana Tykalová, Ján Štěrba