Giving Lab Equipment a Second Life with UniGreenScheme

When it comes to lab sustainability, it’s easy to focus on energy and consumables, but equipment is often the elephant in the room. Large, expensive, and tricky to dispose of old kit has a habit of lingering in cupboards, corners and under benches, or being scrapped long before it needs to be.

That’s why I wanted to shine a light on UniGreenScheme, a service I’ve heard consistently good things about from lab sustainability leads across the country. Back when I was at Imperial College, they were spoken about as the go-to place if you needed to clear out surplus equipment or were looking for an affordable, second-hand option to purchase.

What impressed me about UniGreenScheme

UniGreenScheme aren’t just about clearing out old kit. What really struck me is how they create value and sustainability at both ends: selling and buying. From my perspective, four things stand out:

♻️ They make it easy to give equipment a second life. 

The biggest barrier in labs is often time. No one has the bandwidth to organise collections, handle resale, or track what can be reused. UniGreenScheme pick up directly, handle testing, manage the resale process, give you space back, and then share the revenue with the lab.

🛒 They make it easy to buy sustainably. 

When you are looking to buy equipment, purchasing second-hand items from UniGreenScheme avoids new manufacturing emissions, reduces waste, and can save money. This can lower costs and carbon footprint while supporting a circular system.

📊 They prove the impact. 

Every transaction, whether selling or buying, comes with clear metrics: waste diverted from landfill, CO₂e saved, and money returned to departments. Being able to quantify these benefits makes the environmental case tangible for labs and helps sustainability leads track real progress.

🤝 They’re trusted.

The fact that so many lab sustainability leads recommend them tells me they’ve become part of how UK labs think differently about equipment as something that can have multiple lifetimes, not just one.

Why this matters

Disposing of equipment isn’t just about getting rid of clutter. Every centrifuge, balance, or spectrometer represents raw materials, manufacturing emissions, and financial investment. Multiply that across thousands of labs, and the environmental footprint tied up in unused or scrapped equipment becomes enormous, feeding into the wider global challenge of electronic and laboratory waste. Sending them to landfill or even recycling skips over the middle “R”: reuse.

UniGreenScheme help labs extend the useful life of equipment, whether you’re giving it a second life or buying it second-hand. It’s a reminder that sustainability isn’t always about high-tech solutions. Sometimes it’s about systems that make reuse practical, rewarding, and easy.

Disclosure: This review was written independently. UniGreenScheme were invited to check a draft for factual accuracy and minor clarifications; no payment, gifts, or other compensation were received.