Polymer-resolved quantification and characterisation of laboratory plastic waste across academic and testing laboratories

Laboratory environments rely heavily on single-use plastics due to their sterility, convenience and compatibility with sensitive experimental procedures, resulting in significant plastic waste generation and sustainability challenges. This study investigated the scale, composition and material characteristics of disposable laboratory plastics from a UK university (the University of Manchester) and a national water quality testing laboratory (Scottish Water) by combining procurement-based waste analysis with polymer characterisation. The mass of each item was determined by direct item mass measurement and scaled with procurement data to estimate procurement-derived potential waste generation. Annual laboratory plastic consumables were estimated at 14.83 tonnes for the University of Manchester and 15.09 tonnes for Scottish Water, corresponding to 0.02 and 0.08 tonnes per lab user per year, respectively. Laboratory plastic samples were characterised using differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography, rheology and melt flow index testing. The analysis showed that the dominant polymers across high-volume consumables were polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene terephthalate, although their relative contributions differed between organisations. Characterisation revealed clear differences in thermal, molecular and rheological behaviour between materials. Exploratory principal component analysis of the combined dataset indicated greater within-class variability among PP samples than among PS samples. These findings show that procurement analysis combined with polymer characterisation can provide a structured evidence base for identifying high-volume polymer streams and informing future segregation and recycling feasibility studies.