Waste

Follow our lab plastics guidance.

This information is also covered in the lab sustainability training presentation video above (chapter one).

The guidance covers 12 recommendations; here are a few examples:

• Substitute single-use plastic for glass.
• Substitute single-use plastic for other reusable materials, or reuse current single-use items.
• Reduce packaging plastics.

Read our case studies about decontamination and reuse/substitution to help reduce your lab plastic waste.

A case report: insights into reducing plastic waste in a microbiology laboratory [external website]

Use our poster as a reminder of 10 ways to reduce plastics in laboratories.

Some 20,500 institutions worldwide are involved in biological, medical or agricultural research (where plastic disposal is likely to be heaviest), so that could equate to around 5.5 million tonnes of lab plastic waste in 2014 — roughly the combined tonnage of 67 cruise liners, and equal to 83% of the plastic recycled worldwide in 2012.

Urbina, M.A., Watts, A.J.R., and Reardon, E.E. 2014. Labs should cut plastic waste too. Nature. 528, p. 479. 

Remember not all waste from a lab is hazardous. If it’s uncontaminated (e.g. packaging) it can be put into the normal recycling or general waste bins:

• Used plastic items from a lab that have not been in contact with biological agents, clinical or hazardous materials, and are not identifiable can be placed in standard recycling streams 
• Uncontaminated paper and cardboard packaging from a lab can be placed in standard recycling streams  
• Uncontaminated/deactivated glass containers can be re-used in house or returned to the supplier 
• Uncontaminated non-recyclable materials from laboratories can be disposed of through the standard general waste streams – not clinical, biological or hazardous 

Cross-contamination results in substantial extra costs and carbon emissions from extra treatment. Clinical and Biological waste streams can be four times more expensive than non-hazardous waste streams.

Find out how to dispose of items in the safest and sustainable way on the Waste and Recycling website.

Advice on how to dispose of any item

How to dispose of lab items

Follow our sustainable lab consumables guide.

This covers: experimental design and research quality; packaging; take-back schemes; pipette tips and boxes; personal protective equipment (PPE); cell culturing consumables; microcentrifuge/conical centrifuge tubes; winchesters and other bottles; reagents, water and kits and columns, solvents, syringes; and glassware.

Packaging

• Opt for recyclable packaging (paper and card), even for temperature controlled deliveries (e.g. NEB, ThermoFisher, Thorlabs, Elkay, Corning, Merck/Millipore, Bio-Techne, Cambridge Bioscience).
• Choose products with packaging that uses less plastic, or a greater proportion of recycled plastic (e.g. Anachem, Gilson).
• Go with companies who will take back their packaging (e.g. VWR, Promega, NEB, Fisher Scientific).

Tip boxes

• Buy autoclavable tip boxes (so you only need to purchase loose refill tips).
• Give back tip boxes and/or the inserts for recycling (e.g. Anachem, Gilson, Starlab, VWR, Elkay, Appleton Woods, SLS, Sarsted, Greiner Bio-One).

Old pipette tips

• Investigate trade-in schemes for old (unused) pipette tips which are surplus to your requirements, providing you with store credit (e.g. Anachem, Gilson).

Green general purchasing options

• Some large wholesalers provide an indicator on their website/catalogue of greener options (e.g. VWR, Merck/Millipore, SLS, Starlab).

Be conscious of what you use and why.

• Plan experiments to avoid repeats
• Use the minimum viable volume of chemicals and samples

This information is also covered in the lab sustainability training presentation video above (chapter two).

Consider redesigning your experimental processes to follow the principles of Green Chemistry, including reducing the hazard level of materials, reducing waste and reducing energy inputs.

12 Principles of Green Chemistry [external website]

Order appropriate quantities, check if there is already the same chemical available, check if others can make use of your unwanted chemicals and, if not, ensure they are disposed of correctly.

Use a lab exit proforma which includes tasks to redistribute or dispose of chemicals and materials. This can help avoid situations where materials are discarded because they are unidentifiable or expired.

Check with colleagues, before ordering chemicals or materials. There may be extra materials available which you could use, reducing disposal as waste if the expiry date is exceeded. 

Contact the Waste Office (waste@ed.ac.uk) for advice and help in reusing equipment.