A Circular Economy For Lab Consumables

When I worked in a chemistry lab, I was always distressed by the amount of waste that was generated. Due to safety concerns, the waste was sent for incineration resulting in significant CO2 and other gaseous emissions into the atmosphere. However, this report of the UK's first recycling process for chemically and biologically contaminated plastic, may mean this no longer need to be the case.

A new company, LabCycle, has developed a process that can separate, shred and decontaminate plastic waste, forming pellets that can then be used by plastic manufacturers to produce new lab supplies. This forms an impressive example of a circular economy.

The model, if widely adopted, could significantly reduce the emissions associated with burning laboratory plastic waste. Further, given that recycling typically uses less energy than the generation of virgin plastic, it could also reduce the emissions associated with the production of the new articles, leading to a double