Examples
Worked examples
- Is an instance
A neuroscience lab replaces disposable plastic weighing boats with washable aluminium weigh dishes, eliminating ~3,000 items per year.
- Is an instance
A core facility installs a glassware washer-dryer to support a return-to-glass programme.
Counter-examples
Looks similar, but isn't
- Not an instance
Single-use sterile filtration units used for clinical-grade work are not reasonably reusable.
- Not an instance
Sharps and contaminated pipette tips must remain single-use.
Editorial commentary
The default laboratory workflow that emerged from the 1990s onward — individually wrapped, single-use plasticware for nearly every task — is being reconsidered as washing infrastructure (autoclaves, laboratory-grade glassware washers) and staff time make many of those items viable to reuse without compromising sterility or data quality. Reusable consumables span a wide range: washable aluminium or glass weigh boats instead of disposable plastic ones, autoclavable glass culture tubes instead of plastic, refillable spray and wash bottles, washable lab coats on a laundering contract rather than disposable gowns, and returnable tip-box racks paired with a validated tip-washing protocol for non-critical applications.
The economics and the evidence base
Lifecycle comparisons generally favour reusables once labour, water and energy for washing are properly accounted for against the full supply-chain and disposal cost of single-use equivalents, though the crossover point depends on wash-cycle efficiency and local utility and disposal costs — it is a case-by-case calculation, not a universal rule. Procurement decisions increasingly draw on third-party product data: My Green Lab’s ACT Ecolabel scores laboratory products against a weighted set of environmental attributes and, in its current version, reports product-level carbon footprint to support Scope 3 procurement decisions, letting a lab compare a reusable option against a disposable one on an externally verified basis rather than a supplier’s own marketing claim.
Funder and procurement pressure
Some funders and institutions have begun asking grant applicants to justify single-use choices in procurement or climate impact statements where a reusable alternative exists, rather than leaving the decision purely to lab convenience — the same logic that underpins sustainable procurement practice generally.
Where reuse stops
Reuse is not appropriate everywhere: single-use sterile filtration units used for clinical-grade or GMP work, sharps, and contaminated pipette tips remain single-use for regulatory and contamination-control reasons — the decision belongs on a case-by-case, protocol-by-protocol basis, following the same reasoning as the 5R framework.
References
- My Green Lab ACT Ecolabel programme documentation; LabConscious procurement guide.
Also known as
Multi-use lab consumables · Washable lab consumables
Machine-readable encodings
Use in your systems
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