You have four realistic routes for old laboratory equipment in the UK: sell it, have the lab cleared by a specialist, donate or transfer it, or send it for licensed recycling. Whichever you choose, the equipment has to be decontaminated first, and anything leaving as waste has to go to someone authorised to take it.
Most equipment written off as clutter is worth more than scrap. Before you book a skip, it is worth ten minutes finding out what it is actually worth, because that figure often pays for the rest of the clearance.
Start by working out what still has value
Working equipment from a recognised manufacturer almost always has a buyer, even when it is a decade old and long out of warranty. Equipment we are regularly asked for includes:
- Autoclaves
- Fume cupboards
- Centrifuges
- Furnaces
- Environmental chambers
- ULT freezers
- GC and GCMS
- HPLC
- ICP and ICPMS
- LCMS
- FTIR
- AA spectrophotometers
Broken, obsolete or heavily contaminated items are a different conversation, and those go down the recycling route below.
Option one: sell it
The simplest route for individual items that still work. Send a list with model numbers, rough ages and a few photographs through our sell your equipment page, and you should get a valuation with no obligation attached. We collect UK wide, usually within weeks, and we can take equipment as credit or part exchange if you are replacing it with something else.
Option two: a full lab clearance
When you are closing, relocating or downsizing, clearing item by item is slow and expensive. A full lab clearance deals with the whole room or facility at once: valuation, decommissioning, removal and onward disposal. The value of the equipment can be offset against the cost of the clearance, which often makes the exercise close to cost neutral.
Our clearance team can be on site within weeks rather than months, and everything we remove is repurposed, refurbished or recycled.
Option three: donate or transfer
Another department, a local college or university, or a charity working in science education may be glad of equipment you no longer need. It still has to be safe, decontaminated and accompanied by the right paperwork, and you still hold a duty of care for anything that later becomes waste, so a donation is not a way around the rules.
Option four: recycling and licensed disposal
Anything that cannot be reused has to be handled properly. Laboratory equipment that plugs in falls under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment regulations, known as WEEE, which means it cannot go in general waste and has to be treated at an approved facility. Anything hazardous, including contaminated items, sealed sources and older equipment containing mercury or refrigerant gases, falls under separate hazardous waste rules.
The paperwork you cannot skip
- A decontamination declaration for anything that has held biological, chemical or radioactive material. No reputable buyer, clearance firm or waste carrier will collect without one.
- A waste transfer note, or a consignment note for hazardous waste, when equipment leaves as waste. Businesses have a legal duty of care to check that whoever takes waste away is authorised to take it.
- Your own records. Keep copies. If the destination of the waste is ever queried, the paperwork is the answer.
The detail differs between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and hazardous waste has its own process, so check with whoever handles compliance for your organisation before a large clearance.
Decontamination comes first, always
Nobody can buy, collect or recycle equipment that has not been made safe. Clean it down, remove samples, reagents and sharps, and complete a declaration for each item. If decontamination and decommissioning are beyond what your team can take on, we can arrange both as part of a clearance.
What we do
Richmond Scientific have bought, cleared and resold laboratory equipment for over 30 years from our base in Chorley. We buy single items and clear entire facilities anywhere in the UK, we can handle decontamination and decommissioning on request, and anything we take away is repurposed, refurbished or recycled rather than scrapped.
Send us a list and we will tell you what it is worth. Call 01257 270 433, or use the form on either page below.
Common questions
No, not in general waste. Laboratory equipment that runs on electricity is covered by the WEEE regulations and has to go to an approved treatment facility, and anything hazardous or contaminated is covered by separate rules. Equipment also has to be decontaminated before it goes anywhere.
Richmond Scientific buy used laboratory equipment across the UK, from single instruments to complete laboratories. We have been trading for over 30 years from Chorley in Lancashire, we collect UK wide, and we give a valuation with no obligation. Call 01257 270 433 or send a list of what you have.
You need a decontamination declaration for anything that has held biological, chemical or radioactive material, and in practice no buyer, clearance company or licensed carrier will collect without one. It should name the equipment, say what it was exposed to, and confirm what was done to make it safe.
It depends on the manufacturer, model, age and condition, and on demand for that technique. Working instruments from recognised manufacturers usually have a resale value well above scrap. Send a list with model numbers and photographs and we will give you a valuation with no obligation.
Everything we remove is repurposed, refurbished or recycled. Equipment that still works is tested and resold, usable parts are kept for repairs, and anything that cannot be reused goes through a licensed recycling route.