Recycling of Laboratory Plastic Waste – a Feasibility Study on Cell Culture Flasks

Abstract

[EN] Laboratories contribute considerably to the global production of plastic waste. It was estimated that labs involved in biological, medical, and agricultural research produce around 5.5 million tonnes of plastic waste per year (Urbina, M. et al. (2015) Nature 528, 479). Due to chemical and biological contamination, lab plastics pose a challenge for recycling and are most often used as single-use items. After use, these items are waste, and a recycling process or management system is missing. In cell culture, polystyrene (PS) vessels are predominantly used because of their favourable properties, such as transparency, stability, good cell-adhesive properties and biocompatibility. This paper aims to present the recycling potential of the “laboratory plastic waste” using PS cell culture flasks, after decontamination by autoclaving, as an example. The different steps of the recycling process of the plastic material are presented as well as the biological evaluation of the recycled material. The mechanical and rheological characterization of the recycled PS parts shows a minimal reduction of material quality. The biological evaluation indicates that the recycled material does not meet the requirements of cell culture vessels. Further research is necessary to improve the transparency and surface-cell-adhesion properties of the parts made of the recycled material. Nevertheless, due to the good mechanical properties of the PS recycled material, it can be reused in other applications.