University Startup Provides Plastic Labware Recycling in the UK
Labcycle has started a pilot plant, using technology it hopes can recycle up to 60% of plastic lab waste.
The University of Bath announced the opening of a pilot plant by LabCycle, a startup company co-founded by Dr. Helen Liang, a recent doctoral graduate. LabCycle has developed a recycling process for lab plastics that does not require an autoclave step for decontamination, and hopes to scale it up for future adoption by health care, research and commercial laboratories.
Plastic laboratory products are often single-use to avoid cross contamination of samples. They are, at present, not widely recycled. Photo Credit: Getty
In an announcement released by the Bath advancement office, Liang described the technology as incorporating mechanical and chemical processes. After decontamination, the plastic is pelletized and sent to LabCycle’s manufacturing partner for conversion into new lab supplies.
A recent collaboration between LabCycle and the University’s Innovation Center for Applied Sustainable Technologies (iCAST) showed that the properties of the resulting recycled polystyrene, polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate are suitable for remanufacturing.
After a successful 2022 pilot project involving three labs at the university, LabCycle is now looking forward to commercializing the service. With support from the university’s science faculty, iCAST and campus infrastructure team, the company has set up the pilot recycling plant in a converted greenhouse on campus and plans to implement waste recycling for science and engineering labs, as well as the local NHS Blood and Transplant Laboratory.
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