More plastic has been manufactured in the last 10 years than all of the last century. This overplastification has had detrimental effects in our planet. Science—specifically laboratory work – is partly to blame. Much of the lab-grade plastics could not be recycled traditionally. Until now: Brenda Lemos and her team are working on a project to recycle America’s 6 Million tons of plastic lab waste.
There are 20,500 research institutions world-wide that produce approximately 6 million tons of plastic waste per year – the equivalent weight of ~65 cruise ships. Of this 6 million tons, >85% ends up in landfills where it slowly degrades over centuries. GreenLabs will tackle this problem by collecting and recycling plastic lab waste and reintroducing it back into an $80 billon market as raw material. With over 10,000 research labs in the country, and over 300 in the greater Boston area, GreenLabs will both improve our planet and profit from an untapped market.