Plastic consumables are a common item in laboratories and other industries, which leads to a large amount of plastic waste. It has become more important recently to increase the sustainability of the plastic used in plastic consumables to help reduce and recycle plastic waste. Eppendorf have recently released some bio-based tubes as a more sustainable option to plastic tubes to help combat this issue.

Bio-based Polymer
These tubes have been made with a sustainable raw material that is produced from bio-based waste and residues – 2nd generation renewable feedstock. This renewable feedstock can be backtracked to the first collection points, and the origin has been carefully selected from suppliers that are committed to sustainability. The final polymers for the tubes are sustainability certified by ISCC PLUS and come with ACT certification (Accountability, Consistency and Transparency)
Polymer Production
The infographic below shows the production process for the bio-based tubes, with 90% of the polypropylene being made from renewable materials, and 10% coming from fossil origin. This process being ISCC certified enables traceability along the entire supply chain – from agriculture to the finished end product.

Bio-based Tubes
These bio-based tubes, with screw caps, come in four sizes:
- 5ml Sterile Biobased tubes, 200 pieces per pack (2 bags x 100 tubes)
- 15ml Sterile Biobased tubes, 500 pieces per pack (10 bags x 50)
- 25ml Sterile Biobased tubes, 200 per pack (8 bags x 25)
- 50ml Sterile Biobased tubes, 500 tubes (20 bags x 25)
These tubes are shipped in a shipping carton and folding carton which both consist of at least 92% recycled cardboard
Features:
- Eppendorf production centre in Oldenburg complies with the requirements of ISCC PLUS
- ACT labelled
- Tubes are made from 90% renewable-based feedstock plus 10% fossil-based feedstock
- General quality certificates/compliance with standards are available for these bio-based tubes
- Product-specific and lot-specific purity certificates are available, as well as an ISCC sustainability declaration for the bio-based tubes