Have you ever wondered which laboratory consumables have the greatest environmental impact? Seed Fund project from the EWUU alliance, the study “Environmental Hotspot Analysis of Laboratory Consumables in a University and University Medical Center“ analysed 2023 procurement data from Wageningen University & Research and UMC Utrecht to identify the laboratory consumables and chemicals that contribute most to procurement-related CO₂ emissions.
𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀:
- Frequently ordered laboratory consumables accounted for approximately 2,073 tonnes CO₂e at WUR and 5,264 tonnes CO₂e at UMCU.
- A small number of product categories were responsible for the majority of emissions:
- At WUR, the top 15 categories accounted for 86.5% of total laboratory-related emissions.
- At UMCU, the top 15 categories accounted for 96.8% of emissions.
- Laboratory kits, particularly detection kits and sequencing/editing kits, dominated the footprint at both institutions.
- Common disposable products such as lab gloves, pipette tips, Falcon tubes, and PCR/cell culture plates consistently emerged as major hotspots.
- Institution-specific differences were also observed:
- Antibodies were a major hotspot at UMCU.
- Primers, oligonucleotides, and solvents such as acetonitrile were more prominent at WUR.
The results show that procurement-related laboratory emissions are highly concentrated, creating clear opportunities for targeted interventions, circular procurement strategies, and the adoption of lower-impact alternatives.
Beyond identifying hotspots, this work also highlights the importance of improving procurement data quality and harmonisation across institutions to support more accurate environmental assessments.
For the analysis the team used a spend-based method in combination with recently published emission factors from a French Database for lab consumables. This method provides a first insight into environmental hotspots in lab consumables. The work will be followed up by ongoing research using material-based analysis performed on a national scale within UMCNL.
Find the full report here.
