UK-based startup LabCycle has received £180,000 in funding from the British Design Fund (BDF) to support the development of what it calls the ‘world’s first’ AutoDecon system, designed to safely recycle contaminated laboratory plastics into high‑grade resources without high heat or pressure.
The investment is part of a broader funding round, alongside a £250,000 Innovate UK Investment Partnership grant awarded in collaboration with BDF.
Each year, more than 5.5 million tonnes of plastic waste are generated by research and healthcare laboratories globally, with the majority incinerated. This practice produces carbon emissions equivalent to 23 million cars annually and permanently destroys high‑grade plastics designed for precision science.
As regulatory and institutional pressure mounts to meet net‑zero targets, laboratories are being asked to reduce their environmental impact without compromising safety, performance or cost — a challenge existing waste systems were never designed to meet.
It was while studying for her PhD at the University of Bath that Dr Helen Liang, co‑founder of LabCycle, set out to tackle the problem. Her vision was to turn single‑use lab plastic waste into new lab equipment, creating a circular economy and reducing the volume of plastic waste generated by the scientific and biomedical sectors.
