Hi Reader, how do you reduce plastic waste when you have to work under sterile conditions?
With simple practices, you can actually reduce your plastic waste by over half.
To my mind, there are 3 core principles I would consider to save plastic in any circumstance.
One of them is reusing. But is that really safe? I have a fantastic case study to share with you:
Today's Lesson: The Safety of Sustainability
How feasible is reusing plastic and switching to glass?
Number of the Day
By simply applying three principles - reducing, reusing, and miniaturizing - we can significantly reduce plastic waste. I personally applied them while working with cultured primary neurons isolated from rats - allowing me to reduce avoidable plastic waste by about 65%. However, reuse particularly often raises concerns. In my work, I didn't see any differences. But what about long-term effects? And do these insights only apply to plastic, or also to glassware?
3
Using Items Multiple Times
Cell culture is one of the areas where sustainable practices can make a big difference.
Of course, we need to avoid contamination, keep our cells happy, and accommodate all the personal preferences of scientists.
Cell culture work is nuanced and requires attention to detail. This might be one reason why Sigma-Aldrich’s introduction to cell culture is over 60 pages long! However, no matter how demanding or sensitive a process is, sustainable practices can still be applied. After all, it is often not about changing experimental strategies, but simply about how we handle laboratory items.
While the last point sounds trivial, I can say from experience that there is a lot of superstition.
From people swearing that drenching items in disinfectant outside the hood ensures sterility to those spraying their hair with RNase - I am not kidding.
And this is what causes several kilograms of plastic waste every month in some labs.
But reusing items or switching to glass seems unsafe and like a lot of effort, doesn’t it? Maybe I can convince you of the opposite.
A Case Study in Cell Culture
Trusler et al. cultured human pulmonary fibroblasts using either a conventional or a sustainable protocol.
What did they do?
They reused their plastic culture flasks up to 3 times, simply rinsing them with PBS.
Of note, their glass pipette tips (not shown above) were soaked in 1% Virkon for 20 minutes, rinsed with distilled water, and collected in stainless steel canisters before undergoing the same procedure as the bottles. Regarding the flasks, after cell removal, the flasks were washed twice with 7 mL of dPBS before reseeding.
They also switched to glass, using glass bottles and pipette tips.
They cleaned and sterilized their glassware using disinfectant, a normal wash and dry heat at 180°C for two hours.
That sounds good, but did this affect the cells?
The Results
Over seven passages, they found no significant differences in the properties or behavior of the cells.
The measures they assessed included cell viability, cell size, and proliferation (population doubling time):
However, an additional concern was that cells would respond differently, especially to endotoxins that might enter from the environment.
Thus, they assessed IL-6 production. Still, here again, they were unable to detect a clear difference.
PS: I don’t understand why their sample sizes differ across the 3 conditions. In theory, that leads to statistical complications (it makes the calculations much more difficult, although not impossible), which I doubt they are aware of. Still, from the distribution, we can see that IL-6 levels are not increased.
Also, the representative microscopy images they shared show essentially no difference between single-use and three-times-reused culture flasks.
Why Is It Worth It?
It seems the cells didn't mind any of the changes; however, the environment does.
The authors estimated that:
Replacing disposable plasticware could reduce the associated monthly emissions from 4.11 kg to 3.16 kg CO₂e (over 23%).
The additional footprint of producing the glassware could be offset after approximately 10 months.
They compared 50 mL plastic conical centrifuge tubes with glass 100 mL bottles and heat-proof lids.
Importantly, this group focused on replacing and reusing laboratory items.
I guess for the sake of the study, they excluded reduction or miniaturization, which would lead to even greater savings.
The challenge? It would take over 3 years to recover the initial cost of the glassware through the reduced use of plastic items.
Thus, the biggest challenge might not be the science but the equipment and "infrastructure"...
Applying the Knowledge
All in all, this study shows again that sustainability is an option, even in sterile environments or when working with cells.
Of note, this laboratory didn’t use any antibiotics in its cell culture.
Apart from eliminating a confounding factor, this shows that anyone can reduce plastic waste without causing contamination!
Think back to previous events and our summit - I shared more about how we can assure that we drive change safely but effectively. You cannot change everything, but that isn't a problem. That's just normal.
But what about the additional work?
Yes, finding the right materials and coming up with a plan takes a few hours.
However, they reported spending no more than roughly one hour per week cleaning and preparing the glassware!
And while keeping an eye on glassware can actually encourage you to plan more meticulously (saving you time in the long term), it also means greater resilience during supply shortages (think COVID).
So, if you work with bacteria, fungi, proteins, nucleotides, or any other sample type, you can drive change.
Just go step by step, use appropriate controls, and be responsible. After all, it is possible to reuse items safely.
How We Feel Today
References
Penndorf, P., 2024. Reducing plastic waste in scientific protocols by 65% — practical steps for sustainable research. FEBS Letters, 598, 1331–1334. doi:10.1002/1873-3468.14909.
Trusler, E.C. et al., 2024. Reusable glassware for routine cell culture—a sterile, sustainable and affordable alternative to single-use plastics. Frontiers in Sustainability, 5, 1447236. doi:10.3389/frsus.2024.1447236.
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Edited by Patrick Penndorf Connection@ReAdvance.com Lutherstraße 159, 07743, Jena, Thuringia, Germany Data Protection & Impressum If you think we do a bad job: Unsubscribe
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