Inside the Push to Make Biomedical Research More Sustainable

Envetec is proud to be featured in The Scientist’s article, “Inside the Push to Make Biomedical Research More Sustainable,” which examines how innovative technologies and industry leaders are helping reduce the environmental impact of biomedical research.

Malcom Bell, a microbiologist who is also a board director at My Green Lab, agreed that scientists or healthcare companies alone should not have to offer greener alternatives. Having worked in the life sciences and healthcare industries for decades, Bell has not only witnessed advances in science but also seen a spike in the use of single-use plastics associated with these advances. “I suppose I’ve also witnessed the fact that there’s been no advances in how these waste streams are treated,” he said, explaining that autoclaving and incineration—both energy-intensive methods—remain the most commonly used ways to decontaminate lab plastic waste before it ends up in landfills. “There are many ways to inactivate bacteria and viruses in general, and the fact that heat is the only one that’s used became a very large source of frustration for me,” said Bell.

This motivated him to found Envetec Sustainable Technologies with the goal of developing a non-thermal method to treat plastic waste generated in the lab. He envisioned that this process would not damage the plastic polymers, making the disinfected material suitable for recycling and enable it to be shaped into other lab equipment. “If these polymers that have been incinerated and landfilled go into another medical device that may not come in contact with the patient [or] the drug, that’s a pretty damn good outcome,” said Bell.

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