Reducing Lab Plastics
The advent and proliferation of plastics in the laboratory have allowed for countless advancements in research and science, and a mountain of waste. Many educators and researchers are frustrated with the waste their labs produce. Read on for strategies and programs to reduce and/or recycle your lab’s single-use plastic waste.
Where Possible, Reduce and Reuse
Glass and metal ware have long been used in labs for their durability and easy sterilization. Many labs have found, where possible, it can save your lab both money and waste to return to glass and metal, or wash and reuse more durable plastics. Consider the following strategies:
Choose Glass or Metal:
- Falcon tubes
- Pipettes
- Filter bottles
- Petri dishes
- Bijou bottles
- Test tubes
Reuse/Wash Plastics:
- Pipettes & pipette tips when aliquoting
- Gloves (decontaminate with ethanol)
- Tubes and cuvettes
- Beakers & tip-collection
Reduce Single Use:
- Micro-size reactions and experiments, when possible
- Refill old pipette tip boxes with pipettes tips purchased in bulk
- Use pre-diluted antibodies
Share Resources, Right-Size Orders
Do you only need a small amount of supplies for your lab? When placing orders, consider the waste potential associated with ordering whole cases of materials. Instead, order the exact amount of materials you need through the Dietrich School Scientific Stockroom (typically for less per unit!), or consider consolidating your purchases with other labs to share resources.
Ordering chemicals? Remember to check the free stock available from the EH&S Chemical Redistribution Program, too!
Participate in a Pilot Recycling Program
Lab plastics are highly sterile, cheap to produce, and have enabled research and advancements in science, medicine and technology that would not have otherwise been possible. While we can and should reduce lab plastics and promote reuse where possible, Pitt is simultaneously exploring options to more sustainably manage the lab plastics we do use.
Polycarbin is a tech company founded by a Pitt alum that aims to provide a scaleable, circular solution to lab plastics. They offer several mail-back programs (which you can purchase through Panther Express) for both color and clear lab plastics, which are remanufactured into new lab plastics.
Pitt is piloting Polycarbin’s Alpha Carbin program for recycling Pipette Tip Boxes in select buildings on campus, and is pursuing further lab plastics recycling opportunities.
What are other universities doing?
- The University of Bristol lists experience they have had with effectively replacing plastic equipment with glass or other reusable plastics (combined with autoclaving/sterilization)
- The University of York consolidated suppliers to minimize types of plastic coming in, reduced the size of plastic instruments to only what is appropriate to complete the task, and saves energy and water by soaking their instruments in sterilization liquid rather than autoclaving.
- UPenn Perleman School of Medicine is piloting reusable glass petri dishes in the Murray Lab of Developmental Genetics.
- A cell and developmental biologist at the University of Texas is reducing waste by calculating the minimum number of plates/tubes needed ahead of each experiment, and preparing master mixes of reagent in advance, as well as growing mini cultures in smaller tubes for cloning.
- The University of Edinburgh and Radleys advocate for a return to glass, where a sterile environment is not necessary such as for Falcon tubes and pipettes, or in teaching laboratories.
