bioMérieux Embarks its Customers in a Circular Economy Initiative
bioMérieux is conducting a project aimed at recycling its plastic-based reagents. Our long-term goal is the ability to recycle plastic from infectious Petri dish waste, and to offer reagents packaged using this recycled plastic to our customers.
What if, instead of incinerating infectious waste plastic, we gave it a new life? This is the ambition of bioMérieux’s circular economy project, which has received funding from ADEME, the French Agency for Ecological Transition.
Initially, the experiment will be carried out on a regional scale in France, on Petri dishes, the cylindrical crystal polystyrene containers commonly used in microbiology for culturing micro-organisms.
Recycling plastic Petri dishes
In the world of healthcare and medical biology, many consumables are single-use, to avoid any risk of contamination. The BIOLOOP™ project is an innovative solution aimed at reusing plastic material, while eliminating the infectious risk. “With this initiative, we propose to collect Petri dishes from some of our customers, disinfect them, recycle the plastic and then reuse it in the manufacture of new Petri dishes. We’re studying the feasibility of this circular economy model, which would significantly reduce CO2 emissions linked to the production of plastic, but also to its incineration at the end of its life,” explains Lucie Deprez, who is spearheading the project alongside Emeline Leblanc.
With BIOLOOP™, bioMérieux is taking the lead in saving resources and anticipating the expectations of its customers, whose environmental concerns are on the rise. “Today, reducing the production of plastic and waste is a real environmental and public health issue. This pioneering project for recycling infectious plastic waste is perfectly in line with our CSR commitments, and will also help our customers to achieve their own decarbonization objectives,” adds Oliver Faust, Senior Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility at bioMérieux.
The BIOLOOP™ project is an innovative solution aimed at reusing plastic material, while eliminating the infectious risk.
First step with the launch of a pre-pilot in France
Since mid-2024, bioMérieux has been working on feasibility tests for the sorting, collection and disinfection of Petri dishes, the first essential steps in plastic recovery.
“In December 2024, we launched a regional pre-pilot in France with a few customers that we share with our partner who collects infectious waste. To date, disinfection tests are still underway and we are not yet able to recover the plastic. Our goal is to work on the implementation of a sorting process within their laboratories and in the flow of this waste. To this end, specific DASRI containers have been developed, as well as communication tools to facilitate the sorting of Petri dishes at these customers’ premises,” explains Emeline Leblanc.
At the same time, bioMérieux is carrying out various tests on the technical feasibility of recycling and reincorporating plastic, with encouraging initial results.
While the collection of infectious waste from Petri dishes will initially only be possible in a limited geographical area, all customers will eventually be able to benefit from Petri dishes incorporating a certain percentage of recycled plastic, subject to the results of the tests planned in the next phases of the BIOLOOP™ project.
By succeeding in producing a recycled plastic suitable for Petri dishes, the loop would be closed: bioMérieux could then use this plastic for its own reagents.
“With this project, bioMérieux is demonstrating that it is possible to contribute to improving global health while preserving the environment and that of future generations. This long-term vision calls for the implementation of new processes, the development of new technologies, cooperation within and between sectors... we’re encouraging a fundamental change of approach with this initiative.”
BIOLOOP™, the Fruit of Intrapreneurship at bioMérieux
This project came about thanks to bioMérieux’s InVENTURE intrapreneurship program. It was spearheaded by three female team members, two of whom are now continuing the adventure within the Health, Safety, Environment & Sustainability Department to develop it further.
“The InVENTURE program has been a real accelerator: It enabled us to go far and fast with this project, testing things in fields far broader than our initial areas of expertise,” declared Lucie Deprez and Emeline Leblanc.
Created in 2020, InVENTURE enables all team members to propose innovative economic and technological concepts in line with bioMérieux’s strategy. Employees whose ideas are selected are assigned to their project on a full-time basis, for a duration of 3 to 12 months. Over four seasons, 240 ideas were submitted by more than 360 employees in 30 countries. After selection, 17 projects were incubated over the first three seasons, and six are in progress for Season 4. Twelve projects have or are being deployed at bioMérieux, and one start-up has been created!
