Green Elephant Biotech launches plant-based 96-well plate

Green Elephant Biotech has commercially launched a plant-based Green Elephant 96-well plate.

Laboratory staff can conduct research, diagnoses and analysis more sustainably without compromising quality, all while meeting safety and purity standards. The plate is designed to replace single-use, fossil fuel-based plastic plates.

Single-use products are of growing importance to laboratories, where standardisation is important for ease-of-use and controlling costs. However, sustainability is a growing issue, as every year labs contribute 5.5 million tons of plastic waste.

The Green Elephant 96-Well Plate is made entirely from sustainable polylactic acid (PLA), a plastic derived from corn starch, in a less energy-intensive production process than the manufacture of traditional polystyrene plastic plates. Following disposal, it produces CO₂ emissions equal to what was initially absorbed by the corn plants from the atmosphere. Over its entire lifecycle, the Green Elephant 96-well plate has a 50% lower carbon footprint than its fossil-based counterparts, while remaining just as suitable for use in the laboratory. 

“We’re proud to be the world’s first company to produce disposable laboratory materials from PLA using injection moulding,” says co-founder and co-managing director Joel Eichmann, Dr. rer. nat. “Making the first product that meets the high technical standards of lab consumables was full of challenges, such as ensuring high transparency for optical applications. However, testing has shown our plates to be competitive with traditional plastics in this respect, proving quality does not need to sacrifice of sustainability."