Can PLA well plates replace polystyrene plates for a greener future?

Well plates are fundamental to the biopharmaceutical industry, but produce a lot of waste by being single-use products. Replacing polystyrene (PS) with polylactic acid (PLA) makes the industry and laboratories more sustainable by reducing carbon emissions up to 50 %.

Polystyrene (PS) is produced from crude oil, contributing to fossil resource depletion, and typically releases fossil carbon dioxide through incineration at the end of its life. In contrast, polylactic acid (PLA) is derived from corn starch, a renewable resource, and can be used in both 3D printing and traditional molding processes, releasing carbon dioxide from renewable sources when incinerated.

Polystyrene’s essential role in science and industry, and the shift to polylactic acid

The first well plates, developed in the 1950s, were made from Plexiglas (1), but variability in thickness made optical measurements unreliable (2). Polystyrene quickly became the material of choice — thanks to its optical clarity, mechanical strength, and compatibility with automated manufacturing. Today, polystyrene is one of the five most widely used plastics globally, alongside polyethylene, polypropylene, PVC, and nylon (3). The global PS market reached a value of $9.48 billion in 2023 (4) with an annual production of approximately 20 million tons, clearly indicating the global impact of polystyrene.

Polystyrene is used in countless everyday products, but it plays a particularly critical role in the life sciences — in consumables like well plates, Petri dishes, and cell culture equipment. However, despite its technical advantages, PS comes with a major drawback: a large carbon footprint. The incineration of PS waste from laboratories contributes significant CO₂ emissions. This is where PLA offers an important advantage — delivering similar performance with far lower environmental impact.

From advantages to challenges: The sustainability issue

Polystyrene has become the dominant material for laboratory consumables over the past 50 years, thanks to its unique combination of properties. Its optical transparency makes it ideal for analytical and diagnostic applications, while its mechanical stability ensures consistent and reliable results. In addition, polystyrene meets biocompatibility standards (ISO 10993), making it well-suited for pharmaceutical research. Combined with its efficient and cost-effective manufacturing via injection molding (5), these advantages have established polystyrene as the material of choice for products such as microtiter plates.

However, as sustainability becomes an ever more urgent concern, the drawbacks of polystyrene are increasingly hard to overlook. The large volumes of single-use PS waste generated in laboratories contribute significantly to CO₂ emissions. Since these consumables often come into contact with hazardous chemicals or biological materials, regulations typically require them to be incinerated as a safe disposal method. While this is essential for protecting health and safety, it also prevents recycling and adds to the environmental burden. Furthermore, because polystyrene is derived from crude oil, its production depends on finite fossil resources, further contributing to its carbon footprint.

Fossil-based polystyrene vs. plant-based PLA: A necessary transition

In contrast to polystyrene, polylactic acid (PLA) is a plant-based polymer and is obtained through the fermentation of starch, typically from corn or sugar cane. The polymer is based on renewable resources and therefore builds a sustainable alternative to polystyrene.

PLA offers a significantly lower carbon footprint compared to polystyrene, as during incineration as end-of-life processing, it only releases the amount of CO₂ previously absorbed by the plants used to produce it. PLA production consumes approximately 65% less fossil energy and emits around 68% fewer greenhouse gas emissions than conventional plastics (6). At Green Elephant Biotech, we have demonstrated that using PLA for a transparent 96-well plate can reduce overall CO₂ emissions by up to 50% compared to a polystyrene (PS) plate, even when incinerated as end-of-life processing.

Beyond these sustainability benefits, PLA retains all key functional properties that make PS effective for lab consumables: optical clarity for analytical measurements, biocompatibility (ISO 10993), mechanical stability, and efficient manufacturability through injection molding. Green Elephant’s PLA plates also offer proven durability — they can withstand routine handling and accidental drops without spilling — and show good chemical resistance for most standard laboratory reagents.

While PLA is industrially compostable, it degrades slowly in home or ambient conditions and requires proper facilities for end-of-life processing (7-8), and in the biopharmaceutical industry, contaminated material is usually incinerated. Regarding land use: current PLA production relies mainly on first-generation crops (typically corn or sugarcane), but it occupies only 0.01–0.02% of global agricultural land — a negligible share that is projected to remain under 0.07% even with market growth by 2028 (7).

Looking ahead, next-generation biopolymers made from agricultural waste (such as husks, straw, and lignocellulosic residues) are under development — an innovation that will completely eliminate any potential competition with food resources (7,9).

Taken together, PLA offers an effective, practical, and much more sustainable alternative to polystyrene for well plates and other laboratory consumables — delivering both environmental benefits and uncompromised performance.

PLA presents a promising and sustainable alternative to polystyrene for laboratory consumables, especially microtiter plates. While polystyrene has long been the material of choice, its carbon footprint cannot be overlooked. By shifting to PLA, carbon emissions can be reduced while important characteristics and performance are maintained. Therefore, PLA presents a solution for a more sustainable future, and this aspect is picked up by the 96-well plate from Green Elephant Biotech. Three different versions, which are widely used in laboratories, are already on the market. In addition to the transparent 96-well plate, Green Elephant offers a white and black plate for luminescence and fluorescence measurements.

References

(1) Takátsy G. The use of spiral loops in serological and virological micromethods. Acta Microbiologica et Immunologica Hungarica. 1955;3: 191–202.

(2) Sever JL. Application of a microtechnique to viral serological investigations. U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, Public Health Service, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness, Perinatal Research Branch; 1961. Bethesda, Maryland.

(3) Wünsch JR. Polystyrene: Synthesis, Production and Applications. Vol. 10; Vol. 14. RAPRA review reports: RAPRA Technology Limited. Rapra review reports, RAPRA Technology Limited. Report No.: 112. Shrewsbury: iSmithers Rapra Publishing; 2000

(4) Fortune Business Insights. Markt für Polystyrol - Polystyrol-Marktgröße, Marktanteil und Branchenanalyse, nach Typ (Allzweck-Polystyrol {GPPS} und hochschlagfestes Polystyrol {HIPS}), nach Anwendung (Verpackung, Bauwesen, Automobil, Elektrotechnik und Elektronik, Landwirtschaft, Haushalt, Freizeit und Sport usw.) Andere) und regionale Prognose. Pune, Indien: Fortune Business Insights; 2023 [available März 2025] https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/de/markt-f-r-polystyrol-106571

(5) Lerman MJ, Lembong J, Muramoto S, Gillen G, Fisher JP. The evolution of polystyrene as a cell culture material. Tissue Eng Part B Rev. 2018;24(5):430-441. doi: 10.1089/ten.teb.2018.0056.

(6) Balla E, Daniilidis V, Karlioti G, Kalamas T, Stefanidou M, Bikiaris ND, Vlachopoulos A, Koumentakou I, Bikiaris DN. Poly(lactic Acid): A Versatile Biobased Polymer for the Future with Multifunctional Properties-From Monomer Synthesis, Polymerization Techniques and Molecular Weight Increase to PLA Applications. Polymers (Basel). 2021 May 31;13(11):1822. doi: 10.3390/polym13111822. PMID: 34072917; PMCID: PMC8198026.

(7) European Bioplastics, 2025. Position Paper Industrial use of agricultural materials as feedstock for biobased plastics available from https://www.european-bioplastics.org/industrial-use-of-agricultural-materials-as-feedstock-for-biobased-plastics/

(8) Narancic, T. et al., 2018. Biodegradable plastic blends create new possibilities for end-of-life management of plastics but they are not a panacea for plastic pollution.

(9) Rosenboom, Jan-Georg & Langer, Robert & Traverso, Giovanni. (2022). Bioplastics for a circular economy. Nature Reviews Materials. 7. 10.1038/s41578-021-00407-8.