Environmental sustainability in the microbiology lab

The green revolution in microbiology

In recent years, the Green Lab movement has been gaining momentum and in 2018, the Lab Innovations trade show focused on sustainability, demonstrating the appetite for change.

Worldwide, laboratories are focusing their efforts on finding ways to become more sustainable, from switching to more energy-efficient equipment to re-using plastic bottles when possible.

Delivering solutions

At Thermo Fisher Scientificwe have been working with our microbiology partners to achieve our shared sustainability goals. Reducing waste, we have found, is consistently a top priority, and we’ve introduced a number of solutions to help customers “go green” while streamlining their workflow

Reducing packaging waste

Laboratory Mönchengladbach Medical Care Center, in Mönchengladbach, Germany told us that the steady stream of incoming media needed to perform its high volume testing had become "a huge problem to handle the amount of goods that were coming. These individually wrapped and delivered in carton boxes, like 100x10 media plates, would last maybe half a day − so it was quite obvious that we had a huge waste issue." 

Our Thermo Scientific™ Tailored Delivery Solution (TDS) helped to make their media deliveries much more efficient by taking the media out of cardboard boxes. Instead, we package them on scannable trolleys that are delivered directly to our customers’ storerooms.

Not only has TDS slashed the laboratory’s cardboard waste, but it also saves around 30 man-hours per week.¹

Case study: New cage-based delivery and storage solution Tailored cage delivery system delivers improved efficiency and cost savings for Thermo Scientific™ Oxoid™ Media Read the full case study Learn more about TDS ›

Reducing plastic usage and waste

Reducing the sector’s reliance on single-use plastic is another challenge, and we are constantly working on innovative ways to reduce waste without compromising on quality or safety.

The Thermo Scientific™ Oxoid™ Columbia CNA Agar/Brilliance™ GBS Agar Biplate is just one such example.

The South West London Pathology (SWLP) partnership’s state-of-the-art microbiology laboratory switched to the biplate as part of a wider programme of automation designed to drive efficiencies.

Shelley Bray, automation lead at SWLP, said:

“Instead of having two plates, a CNA plate and a Group B strep plate, we now have one. We are producing half of the waste, and only need half the storage.”

Case study: South West London Pathology increases laboratory efficiency with Thermo Scientific biplate for Group B Streptococcus and Gram positive screening Read the full case study Learn more about our culture media solutions ›

¹Based on customer’s internal assessment. 

Future goals

Resources