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1977 - The Year Bio Plas, Inc. Was Born.

What was going on in the world in 1977 the Year Bio Plas, Inc. was founded by Donald H. De Vaughn?

“The world was a different place in  1977 just as computers were being born and before Social Media became the mainstream.”

On January 19th snow falls on Miami, Florida for the only time in its history.

On May 25th, 1977, the first Star Wars movie opened in cinemas and became the highest grossing film of of its time!

The first all-in-one home computer, the Commodore PET, debuted at the Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago.  

Elvis Presley “The King”  dies from a heart attack at the age of 42.

The first Apple II Computers went on sale June 10th, 1977.

The Oakland raiders finally won their first World Championship by beating the Minnesota Vikings 32–14 in Super Bowl XI

The Toronto Blue Jays play their first game of baseball against the Chicago White Sox,winning 9 - 5, in front of over 44,000 spectators!

The Montreal Canadians sweep the Boston Bruins in four games to win their second straight Stanley Cup.

Space Mountain opens at DisneyLand and, remains one of the park’s most popular attractions.

The Top 5 TV Shows of 1977 were:

Laverne & Shirley

Happy Days

Three’s Company

60 Minutes

All In The Family

The Top 5 Movies of 1977 Were:

Star Wars

Close Encounters Of The Third Kind

Saturday Night Fever

Smokey And The Bandit

The Goodbye Girl

The best selling record album in 1977 was Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours”.

The soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever is released and goes on to become the best selling record of all time!

On August 10, 1977, the serial killer David Berkowitz, The Son Of Sam, is captured.

The Supremes performed their final concert together on June 12 at Drury Lane in London, England.

United States Park Ranger, Roy Sullivan, is struck by lightning for the seventh time and survives!

On July 24th Led Zeppelin plays its last American concert in Oakland, California.

The Medal of Freedom was awarded posthumously to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Atari Video Computer System, Atari 2600, is launched in September.

On January 20th Jimmy Carter was sworn in as the 39th President of the United States.

On November 22 British Airways begins regular London to New York City flights on the Supersonic Concorde Aircraft.

Meat Loaf releases his iconic “Bat Out Of Hell” album. The album has gone 14 Times Platinum.

1977 was a busy year! There are so many other events that changed our lives that I have not mentioned. The world has changed a lot in the past 42 years and so has Bio Plas!

Keep a lookout for new Bio Plas Products coming in early 2020.

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Get an Amazon.com Gift Card when you buy Bio Plas Products. Promotion valid through to October 31st, 2019.

Get more info at www.bioplas.com 

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When Accurate Results Matter!

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Quality is Important When Choosing Lab Supplies

Working in any kind of laboratory can be difficult at the best of times however, factor in trying to go about your work with poor quality lab supplies and you can find yourself becoming horribly stuck. High quality lab supplies can save a lot of time, effort, and frustration.

The first thing to remember is that the cheaper the product is the more likely it is to fail on you. Science depends on accuracy and exactness of results.  To ensure that the experiments and tests conducted in labs are accurate, and the conclusions reached are credible and trustworthy, it is necessary to invest in good quality lab supplies.

Laboratory supplies don't always come cheap and therefore it is easy to get tempted to buy cheaper items. However, this can be risky. It is much better to purchase high quality, proven, products to ensure the best, accurate, results rather than going solely for low cost items.  In many cases the costs of compromised results and lab/equipment contamination can far outweigh the savings made by purchasing cheap products.

In some cases the best way to determine whether specific lab supplies are best for your lab is to discuss your needs with your supplier and the manufacturer.  They will be able to tell you whether the product(s) you are considering are suitable for your applications. The manufacturer can supply you with all the product specifications and limitations to avoid any problems such as compromised test results or lab contamination due to product failure.  Your supplier can help you by letting you know the product, and manufacturer, market reputations.

At times a test run may be necessary to ensure that the product(s) you choose will meet, and exceed, the requirements of your lab and its work.  It is good to make sure your supplier can furnish sufficient samples when required, in a reasonable amount of time, and be open for communication and feedback.

Lab supplies seem to be at the bottom of the laboratory “food chain” but, are extremely important in the operation of any lab.  It is important to put almost as much time and effort into the acquisition of your lab consumables as it is when purchasing your lab equipment.  Your lab’s research results depend heavily on the quality, and suitability, of the supplies you use in your equipment.

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We are getting great reviews about our new Hexa-Flex™ Safety Cap! If you haven't tried it yet, email mollie@BioPlas.com and we will send you a sample.

Now there’s a safe, economical way to cap and recap blood collection tubes and disposable glass culture tubes, regardless of manufacturer. Hexa-Flex™ Safety Caps are available for a wide range of biomedical and industrial applications and fit six different sized tubes. Hexa-Flex™ Safety Caps come in a variety of colors for coding samples.

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Free Hexa-Flex Pack!

Let us send you a sample of our new Hexa-Flex™ Safety Cap, send us your feedback on this item and we’ll give you one pack FREE in the color of your choice!  Just email us your mailing address: Mollie@Bioplas.com

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Champagne May Improve Memory

Champagne May Improve Memory

Thu, 05/09/2013 - 7:00am

Univ. of Reading

Image: Antonio Borrillo, Wikimedia

New research shows that drinking one to three glasses of champagne a week may counteract the memory loss associated with aging, and could help delay the onset of degenerative brain disorders, such as dementia.

Scientists at the Univ. of Reading have shown that the phenolic compounds found in champagne can improve spatial memory, which is responsible for recording information about one's environment, and storing the information for future navigation.

The compounds work by modulating signals in the hippocampus and cortex, which control memory and learning. The compounds were found to favorably alter a number of proteins linked to the effective storage of memories in the brain. Many of these are known to be depleted with age, making memory storage less efficient, and leading to poorer memory in old age and conditions such as dementia. Champagne slows these loses and therefore may help prevent the cognitive losses that occur during typical and atypical brain ageing.

Champagne has relatively high levels of phenolics compared to white wine, deriving predominantly from the two red grapes, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier, which are used in its production along with the white grape Chardonnay. It is these phenolic compounds which are believed to be responsible for the beneficial effects of champagne on the brain.

Prof. Jeremy Spencer, Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences, Univ. of Reading, says, "These exciting results illustrate for the first time that the moderate consumption of champagne has the potential to influence cognitive functioning, such as memory. Such observations have previously been reported with red wine, through the actions of flavonoids contained within it. However, our research shows that champagne, which lacks flavonoids, is also capable of influencing brain function through the actions of smaller phenolic compounds, previously thought to lack biological activity. We encourage a responsible approach to alcohol consumption, and our results suggest that a very low intake of one to two glasses a week can be effective."

David Vauzour, the researcher on the study, adds, "in the near future we will be looking to translate these findings into humans. This has been achieved successfully with other polyphenol-rich foods, such as blueberry and cocoa, and we predict similar outcomes for moderate Champagne intake on cognition in humans."

Previous research from the Univ. of Reading revealed that two glasses of champagne a day may be good for your heart and circulation and could reduce the risks of suffering from cardiovascular disease and stroke.

The paper is published in Antioxidants and Redox Signalling.

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In honor of National Medical Laboratory Professionals Week, Bio Plas is giving away a FREE sample pack of ALL of our products to anyone who "shares" or "retweets" our status! Who want's to try our products for FREE!?

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15 Facts About Our Planet for Earth Day

15 Facts About Our Planet for Earth Day

By Phil Plait

 http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/04/22/earth_day_15_facts_about_our_planet.html

Today, April 22, is Earth Day, a time to appreciate our planet and the two-way relationship we have with it. It’s easy to take Earth for granted, since we see it every day. It becomes—it is—part of life’s background.

But when you see the world through the eyes of science, nothing is mundane. We live on the surface of this great giant space-borne water-laden spinning rock, separated from the rest of the Universe beneath a thin veil of nitrogen and oxygen molecules. Even though you’re immersed in its influence, what do you really know about the Earth?

Here are some Earth Day facts about our planet for you to ponder today. All 23 hours 56 minutes and 4.091 seconds of it, that is.

1) There are a lot of different ways to measure how long it takes the Earth to go around the Sun, but if you say it takes pi x 10 million seconds, you’ll only be off by a half a percent.

2) The Earth has a volume of about one trillion cubic kilometers. Can you picture a cube 1,000 meters high, 1,000 meters deep, 1,000 meters across? Now picture a trillion of them. That’s the Earth.

Actually, if you were that big, it would be easy.

Image credit: Shutterstock/iluistrator

3) The Earth has a mass of 6,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kilograms, or, if you prefer, 6 sextillion tons. In pounds, that’s actually … 0. Nothing. Mass is a measure of how much stuff an object contains, but weight is how hard gravity pulls on that mass. The Earth is in space, orbiting the Sun, so it’s in free fall. It has mass, but no weight at all.

4) The Earth isn’t a perfect sphere. It spins, so it’s flattened at the poles a little bit. The diameter through the poles is 12,713.6 kilometers (7882.4 miles), but it’s 12,756.2 kilometers (7908.8 miles) through the equator. That difference of 43 kilometers is only about 0.3 percent, though, so really we’re pretty close to a perfect sphere.

5) Not only is it flattened, but the gravitational forces of the Sun and Moon (what we call tides) distort its shape even more, pulling bulges out from it. The Earth is lumpy! Out in the deep ocean, the bulge of water due to the Sun and Moon can have an amplitude (change in height from minimum to maximum) of about a meter (40 inches). The solid Earth deforms due to the tides, too, with an amplitude of roughly 50 centimeters (20 inches). Even the air is affected by tides; though there are several factors that greatly complicate it (like expansion due to heating from the Sun during the day, and, simply, weather).

6) There is no physical place where Earth’s atmosphere stops and space begins; the air just gets thinner and thinner and eventually fades away. But we love definitions, so the official height above the Earth’s surface considered to be where space begins—called the Kármán line—is at an altitude of 100 km. Anyone who gets higher than that is considered an astronaut.

7) The Moon’s radius is about one-fourth that of the Earth’s, making it the largest satellite compared to its parent planet. Charon, Pluto’s biggest moon, is about half the diameter of Pluto itself. So if you don’t consider Pluto a planet, the Earth and Moon win.

The Moon is so small in the sky, it's actually difficult to photograph without a good telephoto lens.

Image credit: Phil Plait

8) The Moon is farther away from Earth than you think. As an analogy, if the Earth were a basketball, the Moon would be the size of a tennis ball 7.4 meters (24 feet) away. 

9) The Earth’s atmosphere is only transparent to a narrow slice of the electromagnetic spectrum. What we call visible light (mostly!) gets through, but most flavors of infrared, ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma-rays are stopped cold. Those last few are dangerous to life as we know it, so that works out well. But it’s not a coincidence: if our air didn’t protect us, we’d have evolved differently!

10) The Earth is warming up. It’s a fact. Deal with it.

The Manicouagan impact crater in Canada, seen from space.

Image credit: NASA

11) Fewer than 200 impact craters have been cataloged on Earth. The Moon has billions. We’d have just as many, but our air and water erode them over time, erasing them. Old craters on the Earth are hundreds of millions of years old; on the Moon those would be considered young.

12) An asteroid, 2010 TK7, shares an orbit with the Earth. It’s about 300 meters (1,000 feet) across, and never gets close enough to us to be a danger.

13) The Earth orbits the Sun on an ellipse. The shape changes slightly over time due to the influence of the other planets, but on average the closest we get to the Sun (perihelion) is about 147.1 million kilometers (91.3 million miles) and the farthest (aphelion) about 152.1 million kilometers (94.3 million miles). That difference is only about 3 percent, which by eye is very nearly a perfect circle.

Earth's water collected into a single drop.

Image credit: Jack Cook/WHOI/USGS

14) If you took all the water on Earth and collected it into a single drop, it would be just less than 1,400 kilometers (860 miles) across.

15) The Earth's atmosphere weighs 5 quintillion kilograms, or 5,000 trillion tons! You can do this math yourself: Weight is equal to pressure times area. Atmospheric pressure on the Earth’s surface is about 1 kilogram per square centimeter. Multiply that by the number of square centimeters on the Earth’s surface and you get the weight of all that air. Hint: The area of a sphere is 4 x π x radius2. [Note: Yes, I know kilograms are a mass and not a weight. Read this before you rant in the comments, please.]

And a bonus, because it's important:

16) The Earth is the only place in the entire Universe where we know that life exists. But that won’t be true forever.

To us, our Earth seems huge, solid, tailor-made for us, and permanent. But that is just one perspective, born of living on its surface. From a different perspective, none of those things is true. Seen from space, it looks much less unbreakable. Seen from deep space, it shrinks to nothing more than a dot, barely visible in the reflected light of the Sun. From another star, even seeing our planet at all would be a colossal task. We are, after a monumental effort spanning decades, only just now finding other planets orbiting other stars.

Is any like Earth? Almost certainly, and in fact there may be billions of planets like ours orbiting alien stars. But while they are like ours, they aren’t ours. As with any individual, our world is unique, and precious, and wonderful. Let’s keep it that way.

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Our hearts go out to those in Boston.

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Scientists and Lab Techs...do you agree?

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We are the original Bio Plas, Inc!

We are THE ORIGINAL BIO PLAS, INC!

Often imitated, but never duplicated, Bio Plas, Inc is located in the San Francisco Bay Area .

  Founded in 1977, BIO PLAS, Inc. is a woman-owned company known worldwide for its innovative, creative and quality products.

  All of our products are proudly made in the U.S.A., ensuring quality products, exceptional service, and prompt delivery.

​

Because of our commitment to innovation, BIO PLAS has obtained over 25 patents throughout our history, such as our Anacult System for Aerobic & Anaerobic Micro Organisms sold to Miles Laboratory; our Transfer and Holding Media Device, and the Patient Blood & Drug Safety Band (both sold to Denver Chemical).  And our unique Astral® Inoculation System, Reference™ Pipet Tips and Uni-Flex® Safety Caps.

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What to Expect From Your Supplier

In today's fast-paced world, what should you expect from your suppliers?  What do your suppliers do to help make your job of selling their products easier?

Bio Plas, Inc. offers our distributors:

Prompt Delivery & Drop-Shipping

Because Bio Plas understands that distributors cannot sell what they do not have, we strive to ensure prompt delivery on purchase orders. Almost all orders ship within 24 to 48 hours. Order receipt confirmation and shipment status are sent to purchasers quickly.  Drop-shipping available for no extra charge! 

  Product Sampling & Promotions

Bio Plas offers our distributors samples & literature to help in their marketing of the Bio Plas Product Line.  Product Promotions are offered on almost all of our products and can be customized to suit our distributors' markets.

Private Labeling 

Bio Plas offers our distributors a Private Labeling option on our complete product line at no additional costs! We will work with you to create your brand.

Customer Service

Live customer service agents are available Monday-Friday from     8 am to 4 pm PST by phone, email or through Live Chat on our website.  No automated messages, our attentive staff is here to help you.

Give us the opportunity to supply your lab disposable needs and earn your trust in io Plas products and service

If you would like to learn more about samples, promotions or private labeling, please email us or call us at (415) 472-3777.

Take a moment to check out our new website, www.bioplas.com and tell us what you think!

     Bio Plas, Inc 

     4800 Redwood Highway, Suite C-16

     San Rafael, CA 94903 

      Phone: 415.472.3777   Fax: 415.472.3758

     www.BioPlas.com        info@bioplas.com

            Bio Plas Products are Made in the USA!                     View Our New Catalog

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Free Biopsy Pads!

Buy Two Packs of Bio Plas 

Capsettes™ or Uni-Capsettes ™

And Get a Pack of Bio Plas Biopsy Pads 

Free!

Read More...

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In Today's Labs, Disposable Plastics Play A Supporting, But Essential, Role

An interesting article from the 90's still very relevant today.

From The Scientest, http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/28522/

What is the most important piece of laboratory equipment, the one that no lab wants to be without? Depending on whom you ask, the answer to that question will vary. Molecular biologists or biochemists might name electrophoresis or chromatography equipment. A cell biologist would most likely consider a tissue-culture hood essential. Without a doubt, however, if you took away the disposable plastic pipettes and tubes used to handle minute liquid samples, the scientific studies of researchers in these fields would grind to a halt.

Although not usually considered the marquee players in the laboratory, plastics such as pipettes, microcentrifuge tubes, or culture tubes are essential members of the scientific supporting cast. Perhaps the most indispensable are the plastic, disposable pipettes, which are available in dozens of generic and use-specific designs, in numerous shapes and sizes, and even in different colors.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR), used to generate copies of DNA sequences and considered by many to be the most important research tool of the 1990s, would not be feasible in a laboratory without plastics. In PCR, minute volumes of reactants are subjected to rapid changes in temperature-- from cool to very hot and back again--in a thermocycling device, which results in the sequential amplification of a specific sequence of DNA. This requires special microcentrifuge tubes with extra-thin walls to optimize heat transfer between the thermo-cycler and the reactants in the tubes. Also necessary are pipettes that can accurately measure minute volumes of liquid. In PCR, even a 1- or 2- microliter discrepancy can significantly change the reaction conditions. "A micropipettor equipped with a plastic tip that can accurately measure microliter amounts is an absolute requirement for setting up PCR reactions," says Denise McKeon, a microbiologist in the biology department at the State University of New York, Albany.

Accuracy in volume measurement is a major consideration cited by many scientists who use plastic micropipette tips. "Accuracy is critical," says Michael Lapointe, a biophysicist in the department of physics and astronomy at Arizona State University in Tempe. Lapointe examines biological specimens such as protein and DNA at the atomic level using scanning tunneling microscopy, or STM. "We have to be exceedingly accurate when we prepare solutions to achieve the right electrochemical balance for STM," says Lapointe.

Plastic pipettes come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Some, like those used in PCR and numerous other biophysical or molecular biology applications, measure volumes less than 1 microliter. Others can be used to apportion larger volumes, in the milliliter range. Even the classic glass Pasteur pipette--a simple, ungraduated tube used to transfer samples, and historically the workhorse of the clinical lab- -now has plastic counterparts.

"Because of the convenience, disposable pipettes of glass or plastic are very high-volume items," says Bob Bitgood, account manager for Dynalab Corp. in Rochester, N.Y., a supplier of laboratory plastics. "Sterilizing lab-ware takes time, and because plastic pipettes and tubes are low-cost and disposable, they have great appeal to investigators in both research and clinical labs."

Convenience is a definite force driving the growing popularity of laboratory plastics. Micropipette tips, for example, are used once and then thrown away. This is a major improvement over the glass micropipettes that researchers in the 1960s and 1970s carried around, along with their own personal micropipette washers.

In those days, an enzyme assay using perhaps dozens of micropipettes required a technician to draw--by mouth--on the end of thin rubber tubing attached to glass microcapillary-sized tubes to pull the liquid into the tubes. In addition, while using large numbers of miniature

glass pipettes in such procedures, the technician could look forward to having to carefully wash and sterilize the tubes for reuse before running the next assay. With the plastic disposable micropipettes, one test can start where a previous test leaves off.

Simply disposing of a plastic micropipette tip and using a different one to measure out the next volume in an assay is a considerable advantage in itself. Also, when sample purity is essential to an experiment's success, disposables are the only way to go. "Any contaminant, even ones the size of an atom, show up on STM," says Arizona's Lapointe. "Using disposables in our preparations helps to minimize the chances of something getting into the sample."

There are plastic pipettes to perform virtually any application requiring either small or large volumes of liquids. Plastic and disposable serological pipettes have found a definite niche in laboratories that would otherwise generate large numbers of dirty pipettes needing cleaning. They are indispensable in teaching laboratories, in which students might use 100 serological pipettes in a single laboratory class. "It is much less expensive and more time- efficient to use presterilized plastic pipettes than to wash and sterilize glass," says McKeon at SUNY-Albany.

Currently, the largest market in laboratory plastics appears to be in micropipette tips and disposable microcentrifuge tubes, according to Dynalab's Bitgood, although many other disposable plastic products are also available. In micropipette tips alone there are dozens of different designs. Some can be used in standard applications that simply require the accurate measurement of microliter volumes. Others are designed with a specific application in mind.

For loading protein electrophoresis gels or DNA-sequencing gels, there are tips that taper to a thinly elongated end that slips neatly between the glass plates of an electrophoresis apparatus. With this type of capillary micropipette tip, a protein or DNA sample can be loaded directly into the bottom of a sample well, which decreases the possibility that a sample will spill over into an adjacent well.

PCR applications, in particular, benefit from the wide array of plastic tips available for liquid handling. In PCR, a primer that is complementary to a particular sequence of DNA is added to a sample, where it binds and starts off a round of amplification steps. Keeping contaminating DNA out of PCR samples is critical to ensure that the DNA being amplified is from the desired source exclusively. To protect against contaminating aerosols derived from sample aspiration in PCR amplification reactions, micropipette tips with an aerosol barrier keep the pipetted liquid in the plastic tip and away from the nose cone of the micropipettor. This eliminates contamination of a PCR sample with airborne DNA from a previous sample.

Tips with aerosol barriers are also useful in assays requiring radioactivity. The barrier keeps radioactive particles from contaminating the micropipetting device, saving the investigator a phone call to his or her institution's environmental safety office.

Cell biologists also enjoy a large assortment of plastic products from which to choose. Plastic, presterilized, and specially treated disposable pipettes, culture tubes, and tissue-culture flasks are the backbone of the cell-culture laboratory. A selection of micropipette tips is even available in individually wrapped and irradiated packages. For instance, Bio-Rad Laboratories, based in Hercules, Calif., sells 13 different types of individually packaged sterile plastic tips that fit most commonly used micropipette apparatus.

For laboratory tests performed in the wells of microtiter plates, multichannel pipetting devices make liquid handling a bit easier. Many are ergonomically designed to prevent hand and wrist fatigue. Using a multichannel pipette, an investigator can fill an entire 96-well microtiter plate quickly, accurately, and with a minimum of effort. The tips for these pipettors come packaged in racks that match the microplate spacing to save even more time.

Approaching the logical limit in multichannel pipettors may be a 96-channel device that fills (or empties) all of the wells of a 96-well plate with a single push on a 35 ml disposable plastic syringe. This unit, called the Vaccu- Pette/96 from Bel-Art Products in Pequannock, N.J., is individually packaged and irradiated to assure sterility. Bel-Art makes the Vaccu-Pette/96 in two models: one that is disposable after a single use, and another that can be cleaned and resterilized by autoclaving, making it reusable.

Disposability is decidedly the feature of laboratory plastics most scientists emphasize. But what about all those discarded plastic pipettes and tips that now make up the bulk of discarded laboratory waste? With landfills closing and worries increasing about the long-term effects of plastics buried underground, the problem of what to do with all of the discarded laboratory plastic will have to be addressed, scientists say.

"The problem of laboratory waste disposal is a growing one," says Vincent Franconere, director of environmental health and safety at SUNY-Albany. Like most research institutions, the university generates tons of plastic waste each year. Under applicable laws, pipettes and other types of laboratory plastics are not currently considered regulated medical waste--terminology used to refer to syringes, needles, or other waste items generated by medical research projects and that may be contaminated with human blood. Because of this, the plastic items are allowed to be shipped out in the regular garbage to be landfilled or incinerated.

Even so, concerns remain about this type of laboratory waste. There are unanswered questions of what happens to the chemical components of the decomposing plastics buried underground. Do they leach into the soil, for example, creating toxic substances with the potential to contaminate groundwater? Or, will plastics that are specifically designed to be durable and strong ever degrade in a landfill? Unless a microbiologist fortuitously detects a resin-eating microbe, it is likely that some used laboratory plastics will remain in the ground in solid form for the indefinite future.

Laboratories that generate large amounts of non-reusable plastics are increasingly finding themselves at the center of a politically volatile environmental debate.

"Environmentally, purists will say we should go back to using glass in the laboratory, because it's reusable," says Franconere. "But you have to consider the practical side of operations. The volume that is being generated just doesn't allow us to go back to glass because of the [diminishing] resources we have available to us. When you examine all of the costs and the time involved, disposal is the only viable option."

However, disposal as ordinary trash is becoming a less acceptable way to discard plastic pipettes and other plastics like petri dishes and culture tubes. There is a possibility that in some states contaminated disposable pipettes and petri dishes may soon come under one of the most highly regulated category of medical waste--"sharps." (The plastics themselves may not be sharp, per se, but this dangerous type of medical waste includes needles contaminated with HIV-infected blood and other pathogens, for example.) If that happens, disposal costs will skyrocket for research institutions that contract with commercial waste-management companies to haul away their regulated medical waste. "Categorizing these items as sharps would increase our output of regulated medical waste by five or six times, and that type of waste is not cheap to deal with," says Franconere.

Another problem is that a given landfill may decide against accepting further laboratory waste at any time. And with environmental concerns growing over the use of incineration as an option for solid-waste disposal, the alternatives are reduced further.

Manufacturers, distributors, and users of disposable plastic appear to have adopted a wait-and-see stance as far as disposal is concerned. "At the distribution level, there are no aggressive programs looking into reclamation or other practical and environmentally safe disposal alternatives," says Dynalab's Bitgood. "It is possible to shred the plastic and then chemically decompose the material and reuse the resin," he adds, although he concedes that the practice may be economically unfeasible. "It might cost more to dispose of the plastic than to acquire it."

According to Franconere at SUNY-Albany, the situation will have to be resolved soon: "The plastics issue is a mini- crisis waiting to happen."

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It's a scientist thing...

Plate Streak Magnet or Button by tamarakraft

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Looking for American-Made?

We have come across a great site dedicated to educating American consumers on the importance of buying American made products.  The site allows you to search over 300,000 American manufacturers in a variety of categories. Check out their website, MadeinUSA.com for other American manufacturers like Bio Plas.