TUS Athlone project takes fight to single-use plastic

A research team at the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) in Athlone has demonstrated that single-use polypropylene waste can be safely re-used multiple times — a breakthrough with potentially major benefits for both industry and the environment.

Every year, laboratories worldwide consume millions of pieces of single-use plastic equipment.

To avoid the risk of contamination, most of these items are discarded after just one use and typically incinerated as hazardous waste.

For the past year, Dr Ciara Buckley, Principal Investigator with the Polymer, Recycling, Industrial, Sustainability and Manufacturing (PRISM) Research Institute at TUS, has been leading a project at the Athlone campus to address this challenge.

Focusing on pipette tips — made from polypropylene, one of the most common plastics — Dr Buckley, in conjunction with research engineers in the Enterprise Ireland-funded APT Gateway – a centre dedicated to polymer research which operates under the umbrella of PRISM - and the Faculty of Science and Health at TUS, has proven they can be recycled and reused in the same lab up to 20 times without any loss in quality or utility.

The project is one of six funded via the Circular Economy Innovation Grant Scheme (CEIGS) in partnership with Community Foundation Ireland – a philanthropic hub driving impactful social change – and the Government.

A spokesperson for TUS described how the project worked, explaining that it began with students collecting and segregating used plastic from laboratories.

The plastic was then sanitised by autoclaving – steaming the plastic in a specialised machine to remove contaminants. Once sterilised, the pipette tips were ground and formed into pellets - a process known as regrinding.

Using injection moulding, these pellets were moulded into new pipette tips by the TUS team at the APT Gateway.

The recycled pipette tips were rigorously tested and the team found that they performed as well as new tips — even after 20 recycling cycles using 100% regrind content.

Dr Ciara Buckley, Principal Investigator with the PRISM Research Institute, TUS, said: "This is a very simple process — any college or laboratory with the right equipment can replicate it.

"For TUS alone, it means avoiding the purchase of thousands of euro worth of new pipette tips each year. For industry, the potential savings are many times greater. All you need are the moulds and the expertise to carry out the regrinding process.

"With the stark rise in single-use plastics, a simple change like this could have a big impact — not just in university labs, but across industry."

As the project enters its final phase, Dr Buckley and the TUS team are seeking to share their knowledge and expand collaboration with industry at local, regional, and national levels.

The group also sees potential applications beyond pipette tips — for example, in the medical sector or other material-intensive industries — and plans to collaborate with partners to create valuable products from single-use plastic waste directly within their facilities.

Acknowledging the hard work of the staff involved, Dr Liam Brown, Vice President for Research, Development and Innovation, TUS, said: "At TUS, we are committed to finding practical, scalable solutions to the global sustainability challenge.

"This project is a perfect example of how applied research can deliver real-world impact — reducing waste, cutting costs, and supporting Ireland’s transition to a circular economy.

"By working hand in hand with students, researchers and industry, we are demonstrating how innovation and sustainability are interlinked."

The involvement of the Faculty of Science and Health students was in conjunction with the Green Campus programme, which was overseen by Dr Paulina Flannery, lecturer at TUS, and encourages a partnership approach to environmental education and action in third-level institutions

This initiative builds on TUS’s achievement earlier this summer in receiving My Green Labs Certification when it received two of the three certifications given to Technological Universities.

Dr Declan Devine, director of PRISM, added: "The results of this project clearly demonstrate the potential of advanced polymer engineering to tackle everyday sustainability issues.

"The fact that we can recycle and reuse pipette tips up to 20 times without any loss in performance is hugely significant for laboratories worldwide."

TUS is now inviting industry partners to collaborate on scaling this innovation to reduce single-use plastics across laboratories and manufacturing sectors in Ireland and beyond.