Eco-friendly filters deliver big gains in lab sustainability

Plastic pollution is a pressing global concern. Every year, 300 million tonnes of plastic waste is produced, most of which ends up in landfills and the natural environment. Research labs contribute to this issue. Many scientists rely on single-use plastics for their work, using about seven million disposable bottle-top, vacuum filters each year globally. MilliporeSigma developed a more sustainable sterile filtration device that reduces plastic use and minimizes packaging. Christian Carey, Development Engineer at MilliporeSigma, outlines how small changes in product design can have big impacts on the planet.

We are at a critical moment right now. There’s potential for a two degree rise in global temperature. Deforestation is occurring in vast regions of the world and large amounts of plastic are polluting the environment. There is a lot of waste generated in laboratories because researchers often need to use clean, single-use items. But the environmental impacts of a lab extend far beyond the lab itself. Every material takes energy to make and there are also impacts of producing, shipping, and disposing of each product. Among lab users, there is an increased awareness that they have an environmental impact outside of their work, yet there aren’t many sustainable options available to them.

Why did you develop an eco-friendly sterile filter?

We talk regularly with our customers so we can understand the challenges they’re facing with sustainability and what their green goals are. Many of them noted that the Stericup®, which is our sterile filter device, is a big piece of single-use plastic that produces a lot of waste. They expressed a desire to produce less waste overall in their labs. We took that as a starting point to think about creating a new Stericup® filter that uses less plastic and minimizes the environmental impact, while maintaining performance and affordability.

How is the new sterile filter device more sustainable?

The classic sterile filter we produce has a funnel on top, a filter in the middle, and a bottle on the bottom to collect the sterilized fluid. The system, which is attached to a vacuum or pump, allows fluids and small molecules to pass through, but not anything biologically active, such as bacteria and cells. These sterile fluids can then be used for numerous applications in life science and biological research, especially if you’re doing cell culture.

We launched Stericup® E in 2019, using the same core technology, with modifications that make it more sustainable. We eliminated the disposable funnel and changed the shape of the device so it uses 25% less plastic and 20% less packaging than the traditional Stericup®. Given that most scientists use media bottles that come in standard sizes, we also offer a model without the receiver bottle where users can attach any bottle to the filter system. This model reduces plastic by up to 47% and has 69% less packaging.

What is the company’s overall approach to sustainability?

We have a few initiatives to address sustainability. One focuses on how to minimize packaging, which can have major impacts on the environment without affecting the function of our products. We also incorporate sustainability principles into the design process by considering what the plastic content is of a particular device and whether it’s recyclable and biodegradable. We consider what greenhouse gases are emitted during the production process and how much energy it takes to build and ship that device. Moving forward, we plan to make more sustainable products available to our customers.

What are the broader impacts of developing more sustainable laboratory products?

Beyond producing less plastic waste, these new, smaller filter devices go into a red bag that now needs to be emptied less frequently. That means the truck that picks up the red bag for disposal doesn’t have to make as many trips. The eco-friendly filters also reduce the environmental impacts of shipping because you can pack more devices into each box and more boxes into each cargo container, meaning fewer trips across the ocean. The effects of sustainability multiply across the whole lifecycle of the product. While creating eco-friendly sterile filters is a great place to start because so many life science labs rely on this process, it’s just one piece of the puzzle. Sustainability includes every aspect of what we do and it doesn’t have an end point. At the end of the day, we have one Earth and we’re all trying to share it. Every little bit that we can do to reduce our impact helps.