An uplifting story of circularity from the UK city of Bath this week. A research startup that began life in an abandoned glasshouse is tackling the estimated 5.5 million tonnes of plastic waste generated annually by the world’s bioscience and clinical labs.
Founded in 2020 by researchers from the Universities of Bath and Surrey, LabCycle is establishing a circular economy for scientific waste by recycling single-use laboratory plastics into new consumables. Following the launch of a pilot facility in 2023, the startup secured £1.5 million in 2026 to scale up its energy-efficient, low-heat decontamination technology, AutoDecon. The funding comprised just over £1 million in equity investment led by QantX alongside £430,000 from the British Design Fund and Innovate UK. QantX is a UK-based venture capital firm focused on backing early-stage, science and technology driven startups. The firm specifically targets high-impact innovations originating from the South and South West of England.
LabCycle is tapping the discomfort felt by science researchers and healthcare workers who increasingly perceive that wasteful practices in the lab clash with their personal commitments to sustainability. The company takes hazardous and non-hazardous plastic waste from Safety Level 1 and 2 labs, usually destined for incineration or landfill, instead reprocessing the materials into high-grade plastic pellets. The clean, recovered plastic is then available to manufacturers of brand-new laboratory consumables such as petri dishes, pipettes and micro-plates.
You can watch the explanatory video from LabCycle below.
Co-founder and CTO Dr Jinghui (Helen) Liang conceived the idea while completing her PhD in Sustainable Chemical Technologies at the University of Bath. The company was supported in its inception by SETsquared, an incubator enterprise partnership between the universities of Bath, Bristol, Exeter, Southampton and Surrey specifically designed to support entrepreneurs, academic researchers and technology startups by providing bespoke training, business mentoring and access to investment opportunities. SETsquared is regarded as one of the top university based incubators globally. It is certainly one of the most prolific. Since its inception in 2002, SETsquared has worked with over 6,500 entrepreneurs, who have collectively raised more than £5 billion in investment and created over 15,600 jobs.
Genius ReFi connects researchers, entrepreneurs, investors and industry to build high value science-based ventures.
Join our mailing list or participate in the free Genius ReFi innovator community on Discord.
