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Let’s Lead the Way in Reducing Autoclave Water Requirements and Energy Consumption

From mountains of disposable plastic pipette tips to high autoclave water requirements and energy consumption, lab research has a steep (but often opaque and almost invariably unpaid) environmental price tag. The ACT Label program (administered by My Green Lab) is working to make it much easier for labs to determine—and minimize—the environmental impact of their purchasing decisions.

Congrats to @PriorclaveNA for ACT-labeling 12 of their autoclaves, with 25 labels for the UK, EU, and US! Thanks to Priorclave’s dedication to #sustainability, the #ACTlabel is transforming procurement within #LifeSciences! https://t.co/51gK9OLB2L#sciencetwitter #researchlife pic.twitter.com/i1Zfda6zeK

— My Green Lab (@My_Green_Lab) September 15, 2020

reducing autoclave water requirements with my green labOn the one hand, it’s very gratifying to be recognized for your work, and we appreciate this shout-out from My Green Lab. From the start, sustainability has been at the core of Priorclave North America. Priorclave Ltd. got its start in the UK by making exceedingly efficient and reliable research autoclaves—the ‘toughest autoclaves on the planet.’

We’re proud to have brought those autoclaves to the North American market. Before that, options for meeting sustainable autoclave water requirements and reducing autoclave energy consumption were sorely lacking here. We’re likewise proud of our early commitment to the ACT Label as a tool for increased transparency and accountability lab operations.

But I can’t help but also be extremely disappointed: We are the only autoclave manufacturer who has chosen to participate in this project, openly disclosing the true environmental impact of our products. All across this continent, researchers are working diligently to preserve our planet and reverse global climate change—while relying on equipment and supplies that needlessly waste thousands of gallons of water every single day.

We All Must Reduce Autoclave Water Requirements and Other Sources of Lab Waste

Sustainability is more urgent now than ever. We’ve entered an age where years-long draughts and massive wildfires are the norm. In the past month the fires along the Pacific Coast have grown so enormous that they’ve visibly changed the sunlight and altered the weather here in Michigan, 2300 miles away. This year’s hurricane season has been so violently active that we’ve run out of names for storms. According to the Climate Clock—a sort of “Doomsday Clock” for climate change just unveiled in Manhattan’s Union Square—we are less than seven-and-a-half years away from irreversible climate-driven alterations to human life on earth.

Given these simple, easily observed facts, I would think that every lab and lab supplier in the world would be bending every effort to do every little bit they could to buy us time. We should all be making decisions that protect our planet—and making it easy for those around us to make good choices, too.

—Barbra Wells, CEO, Priorclave North America