How Early-Stage Labs Can Embed Essential Sustainable DNA

Insights from Innoventure Labs on early-stage lab sustainability.

When you’re building something new, early-stage lab sustainability can feel like a later task.

Nevertheless, it matters after you scale.

Additionally, it matters after the next funding round.

It matters once the science is working.

But what if early is actually the easiest time to get it right?

A conversation with Amanda, Lab Operations Manager at Innoventure Labs, reveals something important for early-stage labs: sustainability isn’t simply good environmental stewardship. Done thoughtfully, it can support more resilient, efficient, and cost-conscious operations from the beginning.

And it doesn’t have to get in the way of the science.

Innovation moves fast. Good systems help it move better.

Innoventure Labs supports biotech, cleantech, and life sciences startups in an environment where experimentation, pivots, and failed attempts are simply part of the work.

Amanda starts with one nonnegotiable.

“Safety is number one for us. I want everybody to go home at the end of the day and see their family.”

That safety-first mindset has a natural connection to sustainability. Both depend on thinking beyond the immediate task, paying attention to processes, preventing problems where possible, and creating shared responsibility across a team.

But R&D is inherently messy.

“It really is R&D, the research and development part, and so it’s a lot of trial and error,” Amanda acknowledges. “I sometimes see members get a little frustrated because things aren’t working, because this is the innovation part of it, trying to invent, innovate new things.”

The answer isn’t to slow down innovation. It’s to create systems that let scientists concentrate on the science while better operational practices happen around them.

One powerful sustainability strategy: share.

Innoventure Labs uses a shared-resource model.

“We offer turnkey facilities. So we have shared labs, lab suites, shared office spaces and individual office spaces,” Amanda explains.

That gives multiple startups access to resources such as:

• Core equipment: autoclaves, ultra-low-temperature freezers and analytical instruments
• Lab infrastructure: fume hoods, bio-safety cabinets and specialized spaces
• Resources and expertise: training, mentoring and troubleshooting support

Instead of every young company purchasing and maintaining everything independently, resources can serve multiple organizations. That can mean less equipment to manufacture, power, maintain and eventually dispose of. It also creates another kind of efficiency: shared knowledge.

When one company discovers a better process, identifies a more sustainable alternative or solves an operational problem, neighboring companies can benefit from what was learned. One lesson can travel farther.

Some of the best lab ideas come from outside the lab.

Amanda’s career didn’t begin in a biotech incubator. Her experience includes veterinary clinics and cannabis testing, and those environments taught her practices she now brings to laboratory sustainability.

Rethink single-use by default

“Some of the things we would do is not use single item consumables,” Amanda recalls. “For exam drapes, we would use towels and then wash them in energy efficient washers and dryers. We used metal instrumentation so that we could autoclave them.”

That doesn’t mean reusable is automatically appropriate in every laboratory application. It means look at the whole life cycle before assuming disposable is the better choice. Purchase price is only one cost. Repeated purchasing, handling and disposal matter too.

Batch what makes sense to batch

Amanda offers an extraordinarily simple example:

“Fill the autoclave all at once and do a good run, so that we’re not running and running and running the autoclave,” Amanda advises.

The same thinking can extend throughout lab operations:

• Batch experiments when scientifically appropriate to optimize material use
• Consolidate orders when it reduces shipping and packaging without encouraging overbuying
• Coordinate waste handling efficiently
• Look for opportunities to share deliveries or resources with neighboring labs

The individual change may seem small. The repetition is what makes it matter.

Maintain before you replace

Amanda also emphasizes preventative maintenance.

“A lot of preventative maintenance that we emphasize definitely does reduce intervention and all of the resources that would be used later if there wasn’t those prevention parts.”

Well-maintained equipment can operate more efficiently, remain useful longer, help prevent failures and reduce the risk of experiments being lost because equipment isn’t performing as expected.

Her experience in cannabis testing reinforced the same principle in another area: optimize the process before accepting the waste.

“I think a big one was optimizing our solvent waste. We had to use a lot of different chemicals, and doing batch samples, just pretty much optimizing things.”

Before you buy more, ask how much you actually need.

This may be one of the simplest opportunities for an early-stage lab.

“Only buy as much as you need. Obviously, have your backup for when you need it, but buying in smaller quantities definitely helps reduce things from expiring and then going into waste.”

That becomes especially important during R&D and field testing.

As Steve from LabRenew puts it:

“When you’re just field testing a new process, that is not the time to buy up, that is the time to buy very, very small.”

The temptation to bulk-buy is understandable. A startup gets funding. A larger quantity offers a lower unit price. Stocking up feels responsible. Until the experiment changes. Or the material expires. Or the team discovers it doesn’t need nearly as much as expected.

Now the lab has paid to buy something it didn’t need — and may have to pay again to dispose of it.

A better principle is simple: Buy based on what you know now. Scale purchasing as the science becomes more predictable.

“We guide to sustainable procurement methods, so that the businesses can really focus on the tech and what they’re doing,” Amanda explains.

That’s an important distinction. Sustainable operations aren’t there to compete with the science. They should make it easier to focus on the science.

Sustainability and economics aren’t opposites.

Steve challenges another common assumption: sustainable practices necessarily cost more.

“Sustainability should be embedded in your everyday science. It really makes sense economically,” he argues. “If you move towards green chemistry and do a full life cycle analysis, it may cost you a little bit more to use green chemicals, but your hazmat costs go way down.”

And there are real-world examples of the economics behind that idea.

EPA documents a solvent-substitution project in which a company replaced most of its solvent degreasers with aqueous or semi-aqueous alternatives. The reported savings included $497,000 in solvent purchasing, $17,500 in waste disposal, and $65,000 in permitting and record keeping.

The scale and application are different from an early-stage biotech lab, so those numbers aren’t a savings prediction for your lab. But the underlying lesson matters:

The cheapest material to purchase isn’t necessarily the least expensive process to operate.

The same principle applies to equipment. A conventional ultra-low-temperature freezer can consume approximately 20 kWh of electricity every day — about as much electricity as an average U.S. household.

And sometimes the opportunity doesn’t require buying new equipment at all. In a UC Santa Barbara laboratory study, reducing fume-hood airflow through better sash management resulted in approximately $1,300 in annual energy savings per hood. Actual savings vary by laboratory, ventilation system and climate, but the example shows how an everyday operating practice can become a real operating expense.

For startups operating on grants or seeking investment, those decisions matter.

“Fiduciary responsibility is important so you can work with your grant, or however you’re getting your money, to make sure that you’re spending it in the right way,” Steve explains. “And sustainability inherently saves money in the long run.”

The opportunity is to stop treating sustainability as a separate expense and start asking a better question: What does this decision cost over its entire life?

Your team can be part of the sustainability strategy.

When asked for her top advice for early-stage labs, Amanda’s answer wasn’t about equipment or waste. It was about people.

“Have the right team to start working with, making sure that you have diverse people that can wear multiple hats. You don’t need three or four people from the exact same school that do the exact same thing.”

Different professional experiences can reveal different opportunities. Someone with a chemistry background might see a way to optimize solvents. Someone from engineering may notice equipment inefficiency. Someone in operations may recognize an unnecessary workflow.

Amanda herself is a good example. Lessons from veterinary medicine, cannabis testing and lab operations now inform the way she approaches biotech sustainability. That cross-pollination can be particularly valuable in an early-stage company, where people naturally wear more than one hat.

You don’t have to figure it out alone.

This may be the most important point.

“You’re not alone. The sustainability community, especially where we are here, is very strong.”

Labs have access to a growing support network, including the International Institute for Sustainable Laboratories (I²SL), industry organizations and sustainable-lab initiatives, incubators such as Innoventure Labs, and hands-on support from LabRenew.

“There’s very smart people like Amanda that are out there helping people, helping guide people through the process,” Steve notes.

At Innoventure Labs, that support includes:

• Comprehensive safety training
• Equipment maintenance and optimization
• Procurement guidance
• Permitting and compliance support
• Emergency preparedness

Amanda describes the purpose simply:

“So that the businesses can really focus on the tech and what they’re doing.”

That’s what good infrastructure should do.

So where do you start?

Not with everything.

Start by looking at the things your lab already does every day.

Look at what you’re buying. Are materials expiring before they’re used? Are you purchasing quantities based on actual consumption or anticipated need?

Look at what you’re running. Are equipment use and maintenance practices helping you get the most from what you already own?

Look at what you’re throwing away. Could batching, reuse where appropriate, process changes or better purchasing reduce the amount entering your waste streams?

Look at your processes. Are there opportunities to reduce hazardous materials or prevent waste before it’s created?

Look outside your own lab. What equipment, expertise or resources could potentially be shared?

You don’t need a perfect sustainability plan.

You need a useful place to begin.

Build it in now. Benefit from it as you grow.

The real lesson from Innoventure Labs isn’t that an early-stage company should add “sustainability” to an already overwhelming to-do list.

It’s almost the opposite.

When better practices become part of how the lab operates from the beginning, there may be less to undo later.

You can make purchasing more intentional.

You can establish better maintenance habits.

You can think about waste before it becomes routine.

You can build systems that grow alongside the science.

And you can keep the focus where it belongs:

On the work your lab exists to do.

Wondering where sustainability could fit into your lab?

You don’t have to know the answer before you talk with us.

LabRenew can help you look at your current operations, identify practical opportunities, and determine where a small change could make a meaningful difference.

See How LabRenew Can Help