BenchStable Cell Culture Media
Green benefits
- Energy efficient:
ambient-temperature storage - Sustainable packaging:
increased recyclability
The BenchStable media line of products is the first to market basal media engineered for flexibility and convenience, enabling storage at room temperature. This product line is available in the most commonly used basal media formulations: Gibco DMEM, DMEM/F-12, MEM, and RPMI 1640—all of which include Gibco GlutaMAX supplement. BenchStable media products have been optimized for routine cell culture, maintaining expected cellular proliferation, morphology, and functions of many common cell lines, and maximizing cell densities comparable to conventional basal media formulations when supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS).
Green features
Energy efficient
Cold storage is one of the primary sources of energy consumption in a lab. A 2015 study on laboratory energy consumption by the Center for Energy Efficient Laboratories (CEEL) determined that California laboratories alone use at least 800 GWh of energy each year — equivalent to the yearly greenhouse gas emissions from 127,489 passenger cars. According to the CEEL study, approximately 25% of the energy consumption in a typical lab is from cold storage. One major benefit of BenchStable media is the ability to store the media bottles at room temperature, freeing up valuable refrigerator space and enabling a substantial decrease in energy usage.
Sustainable packaging
Many cell culture reagents are light sensitive and must be protected from light. When designing BenchStable media for ambient-temperature storage, we realized that there would be a greater risk of light exposure when the product was stored out in the open in the lab. We therefore chose a readily recyclable paperboard box with a dark interior to protect BenchStable media from light. Each bottle is still the same Gibco medium bottle made from polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with a high-density polyethylene (HDPE) lid—two of the most highly recycled plastics. When ready for disposal, the paperboard cover can easily be removed, if required, and all the materials recycled.
BenchStable media products will continue to be shipped at ambient temperature in a fully recyclable cardboard box. As with this product and for many years, we have shipped our media products under ambient-temperature conditions without the need for expanded polystyrene (EPS) coolers and refrigerants. From reducing packaging during shipping to eliminating the need for cold storage in the lab, our new line of BenchStable media products is one more way we are enabling our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer.
