Scientific research laboratories produce an incredible amount of waste each year.

A significant portion of lab waste is biohazard waste, which must be carefully sealed in biohazard bags for decontamination before disposal or sent straight to an incinerator.

Every laboratory uses 15mL and 50mL conical tubes:

Plastic centrifuge tubes like 15mL and 50mL conical tubes are used for everything from mixing, measuring, dosing and storing liquids.

Because 15mL and 50mL conical tubes cannot be placed down without toppling, having them packaged inside a sturdy, stand-up rack allows the technician to keep both hands free for manipulating and loading tubes with samples.

Styrofoam racks are great, but present other problems:

Conical tubes have historically been available to ship from the supplier pre-sterilized and packed in a styrofoam rack.

Styrofoam racks have the advantage of being resistant to liquid spills and stand up very well when samples are stored and frozen, even as low as -80C.

The obvious negative of buying conical tubes pre-racked in foam is the inability to recycle the racks where contamination must be avoided.

These conical tube racks wind up clogging biohazard bins and cannot be easily disposed of.

15mL and 50mL conical tubes in cardboard racks are a welcome improvement:

While there is no getting around the plastic waste issue, conical tubes packaged in cardboard racks have a positive impact up and down the supply chain.

It takes less energy to manufacture cardboard tube racks and, when taken care of properly, they can be recycled instead of added to the biohazard trash.

Stellar Scientific offers inexpensive 15mL and 50mL conical tubes in sturdy cardboard racks:

Our cardboard racks are resistant to liquids and safe to store in the freezer.

Our cardboard racks feature black numbering to quickly identify each tube. This is a fantastic tool when preparing many samples quickly.

Our 15mL and 50mL conical tubes are fitted with high-visibility white screw caps and silk-screened graduation lines for accurate sample measurement and protection.

Cardboard racked 15mL and 50mL conical tubes from Stellar Scientific are gamma sterilized in the USA and certified to be RNase, DNase and pyrogen free for use in sensitive molecular biology applications.