Abingdon Health has unveiled a new seaweed-based housing for lateral flow tests as the York-based diagnostics specialist steps up efforts to cut the environmental impact of rapid testing.<\/p>\n
The company has signed an exclusive supply agreement with Wolverhampton firm Symbio Technologies (SymbioTex) to use its compostable, bio-based material\u2014derived from red seaweed\u2014to produce housings for lateral flow devices through standard injection moulding techniques. The move gives Abingdon\u2019s contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) customers an alternative to traditional single-use plastic cassettes, which account for significant global waste.<\/p>\n
Abingdon has already developed prototype cassettes in both standard and mid-stream urine formats, the latter commonly used for pregnancy and fertility tests. The company said the new material integrates seamlessly with existing manufacturing processes, removing barriers to adoption while providing a fully compostable solution.<\/p>\n
Dr Chris Hand, executive chairman of Abingdon Health, highlighted the scale of the environmental challenge. He said: “With more than two billion lateral flow tests used globally each year, the market generates over 20,000 tonnes of plastic waste. \u201cBy offering a plastic-free rigid cassette in a range of formats, Abingdon Health aims to help our CDMO customers reduce plastic waste without compromising on the functionality of the tests.”<\/p>\n
He added that the ability to use the material with traditional injection moulding equipment would \u201cease the development pathway\u201d and help accelerate adoption across the industry.<\/p>\n
Olivia Simpson, managing director at SymbioTex, said the partnership marked an important step in bringing sustainable biomaterials into mainstream medical device production. \u201cIt is a truly home-compostable, sustainable material that can be used to revolutionise the production of packaging and medical devices currently made from single-use plastic.”<\/p>\n
He added that the ability to use the material with traditional injection moulding equipment would \u201cease the development pathway\u201d and help accelerate adoption across the industry.<\/p>\n
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The company has signed an exclusive supply agreement with Wolverhampton firm Symbio Technologies (SymbioTex) to use its compostable, bio-based material\u2014derived from red seaweed\u2014to produce housings for lateral flow devices<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":271992,"featured_media":2146022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53262,79,7,120780,78],"coauthors":[137100],"class_list":["post-2146020","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-news","category-creative","category-manufacturing","category-sustainability","category-sponsored","tag-featured-story","tag-yorkshire"],"yoast_head":"\n