Laboratory items historically used once and discarded that are redesigned, repurposed, or substituted with multi-use alternatives, including washable tip-box racks, autoclavable glass tubes, refillable spray bottles, and washable lab coats.

ByCASRAI Editorial Board

· Last updated 21 May 2026

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 shift to reusable consumables challenges the post-1990s laboratory norm of disposable convenience. Modern washing infrastructure (laboratory-grade dishwashers and autoclaves) makes many historically single-use items viable to re-use without compromising sterility. The economics typically favour reusables once labour and supply-chain costs are properly accounted, and the carbon impact is substantially lower over a 5-year window. Some funders (Wellcome, UKRI) have begun to ask grant applicants to justify single-use choices where reusable equivalents exist.

References

LabConscious procurement guide; My Green Lab Reusables module.

Also known as

Multi-use lab consumables · Washable lab consumables

Machine-readable encodings

Use in your systems

JATS XML <role> element

xml

<role vocab="credit"
      vocab-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/"
      vocab-term="Reusable consumables"
      vocab-term-identifier="https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/reusable-consumables" />

Schema.org DefinedTerm (JSON-LD)

json

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "DefinedTerm",
  "@id": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/reusable-consumables",
  "name": "Reusable consumables",
  "identifier": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/reusable-consumables",
  "description": "Laboratory items historically used once and discarded that are redesigned, repurposed, or substituted with multi-use alternatives, including washable tip-box racks, autoclavable glass tubes, refillable spray bottles, and washable lab coats.",
  "inDefinedTermSet": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/domain/sustainable-research#set",
  "url": "https://casrai.org/dictionary/term/reusable-consumables",
  "sameAs": [
    "Multi-use lab consumables",
    "Washable lab consumables"
  ],
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "publisher": {
    "@id": "https://casrai.org/#organization"
  },
  "dateModified": "2026-05-21T02:23:01",
  "inLanguage": "en"
}

Referenced across the research world

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