What’s in the Science Bin?

"What’s in the Science Bin?" spotlights the Science Bin to reveal habits and lab culture shaping waste quantities in research laboratories. Visitors from a diverse backgrounds (journalists, media, reporters, artists, data visualization consultants, scientists) trace a seamless path from raw waste volume to behavioral drivers, perceiving lab culture's interconnected impact:

1. Confrontation: A 3D “inside-out” R&D lab discard bin, scaled to one month/week of real waste, built entirely from used consumables. Sparse labels like “This is one paper” or “This is six months of experiments” evoke discomfort, priming reflection on habits' scale.

2. Data Layer: Posters visualize survey insights on reusability variations by experiment type, optimization cycles, and training phases—directly linking the bin's volume to quantified behaviors and infrastructure gaps.

3. Interactive Simulation: In “Design Your Experiment,” visitors act as scientists, navigating trade-offs in rigor, speed, cost, and reuse under realistic constraints. Their choices generate a personalized material footprint, revealing how daily decisions—not inevitability—drive the waste seen earlier.

This progression transforms perception: the bin's shock yields data-driven clarity, culminating in empowering action.

Why It Matters

India's 7-8 million biomedical workers generate ~770 tonnes of waste daily, emitting roughly 385 tonnes CO₂e via incineration. As GenZ emerges as India’s future leaders in the biomedical sector and the most climate-conscious generation, we aim to spark dialogue that makes sustainable life-science research a reality, redefining sustainability as systemic design rather than reduced rigor and urging funding agencies and institutions to reward waste-aware practices while upholding scientific integrity.