From Gloves to Benches: Recycling Plastic to Improve Biotechnology’s Sustainability

This is a preview of the full post which can be found on Twist’s blog.

In building towards a greener future, Twist Bioscience has built sustainability into its DNA synthesis platform. Through miniaturized chemistry, Twist enables massive scaling of the DNA synthesis process while also greatly reducing the company’s chemical footprint. But, to truly work towards a sustainable future, laboratories have to go beyond their products to address the challenge of sustainable science. 

Labs churn through single-use plastics at an astonishing rate. Back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that laboratories account for as much as 5.5 million metric tons of plastic waste (ref 1) each year. Put simply, science has a plastic waste problem. 

In an effort to begin addressing this problem at Twist, starting in January of 2019 we launched an initiative to reduce the company's waste by recycling plastic gloves. Since then, more than 7000 pounds of plastic waste have been diverted from the landfill. We’re extremely proud of this program and are proud that our customers can access a more sustainable DNA synthesis platform. With this article, we hope to inspire others to take up similar programs.

Read the full post on Twist’s blog.