Carbon-negative items, bioplastics, and automation are terms we hear a lot these days.
Some are exciting, while others are empty promises.
I outlined my understanding of where our lab plastics are headed and what could make your lab truly greener!
Today's Lesson: The Future Of Our Plastics
What innovations exist and which are still coming
Number Of The Day
We can assume that the average wet-lab scientist uses 60kg of plastic per year (between 20 and 120 on average). Plates, tubes, tips, racks, gloves, wrapping, … there’s a lot of plastic. And our plastics have a significant environmental impact, releasing around 5 kg of CO₂e per kilogram. Yet only 20–40% of recyclable plastic waste actually reaches recycling facilities, while 20–60% is mismanaged. But is any of that going to change?
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The Future of Plastics in the Lab
If we look into the future, will plastics be replaced by glass? As I discussed with Jan, this is unlikely.
Farley & Nicolet and Brandão & Cullen even suggest that plastics can have a smaller environmental footprint than alternatives - especially when reused.
These graphs come from Farley & Benoit. In short, for the re-use scenarios of glass, a washing cycle of 1 week was assumed, requiring 52 times fewer items per year. 10% breakage was also assumed in the re-use scenarios. CO2e resulting from the use of single-use plastic or re-use of plastic or glass 50mL conical tubes. The number of items used varied from 52 per year (1 item reused every week) to 52 000 per year (1000 items reused every week).
Moreover, plastic is lighter, doesn’t break, and is more readily sterile, making it far more practical for most applications.
So, what will happen to make it greener?
One Word - Many Innovations
When we think about the future of plastic waste in laboratories, one word often comes to mind: bioplastics.
But “bioplastic” is not strictly defined — it’s an umbrella term that includes:
I designed this picture myself, but since I found this version all over the internet, I thought I’d include it so you can experience the same joy of feeling extremely well-informed if you see it again in the future.
Bio-based plastics – made from renewable sources such as plant residues or food waste.
Biodegradable plastics – designed to break down naturally under certain conditions.
These two don’t always overlap. A plastic can be bio-based but not biodegradable - or fossil-based yet biodegradable.
Ultimately, plastics are just polymers, and the key question is: what do we make them from, and how do we design the polymer chain.
Biodegradable Plastics – Between Innovation and Reality
Biodegradability is an exciting concept: it could eliminate the need for incineration, chemical recycling, or energy-intensive, limited mechanical recycling.
However, the more biodegradable a material is, the more likely it is to degrade under the harsh conditions of laboratory use.
Exposure to acids, heat, solvents, or sterilization come to mind.
This is from Gerometta et al. The kinetics of the hydrolysis rate of PLA were studied using PLA films stored at different relative humidity (RH) levels or immersed in liquid water at 50 °C. Please note two points: first, the X-axis represents time in days; second, the paper indicates that pH has little influence on the degradation of PLA. While degradation behavior varies between different types of plastics, it appears that—apart from exposure to very high temperatures or mechanical stress - these plastics can still be used reliably for our often short-term experiments.
A look into the future: biodegradable plastics may take over certain low-intensity applications, but without new polymer classes, they will remain limited for high-performance or long-term storage uses.
Composting – A Big Question Mark
Biodegradable still often means composting is required (high humidity, temperature and aerobic conditions).
And even if a plastic is technically biodegradable, lab contamination remains a major issue avoiding composting.
We discussed challenges like soil acidification due to PLA degradation or insufficient degradation at suboptimal conditions previously. Also, data from this study could be interesting to you. This somewhat older study investigated the situation at composting facilities. Also, this study and this one discuses degradation (and its limitation) in more detail.
Moreover, biodegradable plastics depend heavily on waste management infrastructure. They break down best in aerobic, high-temperature composting environments, but not in most common landfills, where oxygen gets scarce.
Under anaerobic conditions, they can even emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas.
A look into the future: As composting and recycling facilities expand and market demand grows, we will likely see this infrastructure improve – making biodegradable plastics more sustainable.
Another Innovation: Bio-based Plastics
Fully biodegradable lab plastics may still be far off, but bio-based plastics are already making their way into labs.
These materials are chemically identical to conventional plastics but made from renewable sources instead of oil.
You can read more about biobased plastics and the land-use of them at European Bioplastics.
Eppendorf as the pioneering company has started producing consumables from biological feedstocks.
These are now in their second generation, meaning they are produced not from food crops (like corn or sugar cane) but from non-edible organic waste, such as food residues or used cooking oils.
Currently, these bio-based plastics are around 90% renewable and 10% fossil-based.
This graphic originates from Eppendorf and illustrates the Mass Balance Approach, based on a 90/10 contribution to their products. We will discuss this in more detail next week. Importantly, Eppendorf uses second-generation biomass (i.e., waste streams rather than food sources).
Based on Eppendorf’s results we can estimate that bio-based items have a 10–30% lower carbon footprint than conventional ones. This is because converting organic waste into polymers still requires several processing steps.
Still, that is a meaningful reduction, and it comes without sacrificing performance or transparency.
Do you observe any differences compared to a standard tube? Further information on its quality and performance can be found here.
A look into the future: For now, bio-based plastics are mainly used for polypropylene (PP) items such as tubes and pipette tips, but advances in chemistry will likely expand this to polystyrene and polyethylene in the future.
However, Automation is also accelerating this shift.
Moving from 96-well plates to 384-well plates immediately reduces plastic use, sample volume, and reagent waste while increasing throughput.
A look into the future: Automated pipetting systems and precision robotics are already common in industry.
They will probably spread to academia as instruments become more precise and assays can be adapted to 384-well formats (think electronic pipets). Still, change in academic labs will remain limited by their small-batch, trial-based approach.
Regulation and Mathematics
Beyond materials and design, a new force is emerging: carbon reporting.
Initiatives such as the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Green Claims Directive should soon push detailed accounting of carbon emissions.
That could mean a plastic item’s origin, weight, and production route will come under scrutiny.
This push for transparency could favor locally produced, lighter, or bio-based alternatives — but it also raises difficult questions:
How do we calculate the footprint of biodegradable plastics if they don’t fully degrade?
Should bio-based plastics be considered carbon neutral just because plants captured their carbon from the air?
This illustrates how complex a footprint analysis can be - and it shows how the time scale plays a crucial role, making the short lifetime of laboratory items an important topic of discussion. This graphic stems from a paper that compared different time horizons for carbon impact calculations – in this case, for wood used in construction in Alberta.
A look into the future: These details matter, because they determine which innovations survive. Sometimes, the most reportable solution wins - not the most sustainable one.
Applying The Knowledge
Don’t hope for the perfect innovation.
We often imagine an “absolute zero footprint,” yet in reality, absolute zero doesn’t exist.
Everything comes at a price. Even when you sleep, your body burns energy.
And available innovations can already make your lab more sustainable. More on bioplastics in our recording at 1:59:00:
However, the future of lab plastics won’t be decided only by manufacturers - it will also depend on those who set a sign.
Choose innovative consumables, share feedback with suppliers, and discuss greener options openly. Sometimes, volume equals visibility, and visibility drives change.
At the same time, stay critical of data. A “30% reduction” only has meaning when you know how it was calculated and what it was compared to.
Upcoming Lesson:
Analyzing Claims About Green Plastics
How We Feel Today
References
Farley, M., et al., 2023. Re-use of laboratory utensils reduces CO₂ equivalent footprint and running costs. PLoS One, 18(4), e0283697. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0283697.
Meng, F., et al., 2024. Replacing plastics with alternatives is worse for greenhouse gas emissions in most cases. Environ. Sci. Technol., 58(6), 2716–2727. doi:10.1021/acs.est.3c05191.
Gerometta, M., et al., 2019. Physical and chemical stability of PLA in food packaging. Hal Science. doi:10.1016/B978-0-08-100596-5.22471-2.
Ahsan, W.A., et al., 2023. Biodegradation of different types of bioplastics through composting—a recent trend in green recycling. Catalysts, 13, 294. doi:10.3390/catal13020294.
Körner, I., et al., 2005. Behaviour of biodegradable plastics in composting facilities. Waste Management, 25(4), 409–415. doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2005.02.017.
Afshar, S.V., et al., 2025. Disintegration of commercial biodegradable plastic products under simulated industrial composting conditions. Sci. Rep., 15, 8569. doi:10.1038/s41598-025-91647-z.
Chong, Z.K., et al., 2022. Lab-scale and on-field industrial composting of biodegradable plastic blends for packaging. Open Res. Europe, 2, 101. doi:10.12688/openreseurope.14893.1.
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Personal Note From Patrick, The Editor Hi Reader, as we were limited in time during our event, I thought I share a very personal lesson with you here. This piece comes courtesy of Corning Life Sciences. Having them as a sponsor of our communications allows me to get a few more looks behind the curtain. This matters to me so much because for a long time, I wasn't sure whether companies would support us scientists. Here’s what you should know and a few special innovations for you: A Deeper Dive...
Personal Note From Patrick, The Editor Hi Reader, reading this will just take you 5 minutes. I compiled all the essential resources I’ve prepared over the last 2 years into an overview for you. Here, you can watch my 20 minute talk in which I outline some of the core principles (as well the rest of our summit). These information are state of the art now. But a lot will change in the future. I developed these as part of my Sustainability Snack – a weekly educational newsletter I write....
A Personal Note For You Hi Reader, you can now watch the recordings! Below, you will find the link and some extra materials. > As a thank you for your interest, I am preparing 1 more message and one email with all resources set up for you. PS: I write a weekly educational newsletter that helps you learn about greener labs by investing just 5 minutes a week. “Your short lessons are packed with clarity and insight,” Niranjan. “I really appreciate your amazing work” said Prisca. So you don’t...
