Sustainable Laboratory Solutions from SLS

Scientific Laboratory Supplies (SLS), the UKs largest independent supplier of scientific products is dedicated to providing sustainable laboratory solutions through a number of transformative programs and initiatives. Laboratories generally consume ten times more energy and four times more water than a commercial office. Some scientific industries, such as pharmaceuticals, produce up to 55% more carbon emissions than the automobile industry. Many are unaware of the sheer volume of plastic waste that comes from a testing laboratory, especially when you consider 5% of the Worlds single use plastic can be attributed exclusively to laboratories.  

SLS and Circular1 Health, a revolutionary testing service company born out of the COVID-19 crisis, worked together to integrate an SLS recycling service into Circular1 Health operations called 'Plastic to Purpose'. Plastic to Purpose makes it easy to recycle previously hard to-recycle pipette tip boxes into a variety of useful eco-friendly products, such as retail food baskets, street furniture, building materials and roadside kerbs.

SLS will provided Circular1 Health with the containers necessary to manage their tip box waste effectively with complimentary weekly collections direct from their facility. The waste is then transported to the regional recycling facility which uses a conveyor-system to segregate the plastic into different waste streams. The waste is then shredded into granules, which provide the raw material for new plastic products. Every week a waste container holding 220 pipette tip boxes (the equivalent of over 240 litres of plastic) has been recycled through this scheme, which would have previously gone to landfill. This is equivalent to 460 retail food baskets annually. SLS and Circular 1 Health have shown it’s possible to reduce the environmental impact of the COVID testing market by collaborating on this initiative.

Scientific Laboratory Supplies and Circular 1 Health are setting the bar and challenging the status quo in the industry with their work together. The implementation of this program gives both Circular 1 Health customers and SLS customers the reassurance that both parties are driven by ensuring there is a focus on delivery sustainable solutions.

James Porter-Smith, the Continuous Improvement Coordinator for Circular 1 Health commented: “SLS are a large supplier of laboratory equipment, and so have great visualisation of the plastic going into labs, and hence have a good idea of the plastic waste going out of labs. I believe this is why SLS have looked for and found great solutions to the issue of plastic waste from these facilities.”

By adopting climate friendly behaviour, we can all play our part in reducing the impact of plastic waste in the scientific industry.

If you feel your laboratory uses quantities of pipette tips that warrant inclusion in this scheme, you can achieve your sustainability goals with SLS by getting in touch today!

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