The Lab Sustainability Problem Is Real — and Growing

Labs know the issue intimately. Pipette tips, reagent tubes, 96-well plates, plate seals, and gloves: change after change, run after run. Life science laboratories generate over 5 million tons of plastic waste every year, and a disproportionate share comes from molecular biology workflows like NGS library preparation.¹ The genomics community is a heavy contributor. Every sample that goes to sequencing passes through a gauntlet of individual quantification steps, normalization workflows, and SPRI cleanups, each step consuming tubes, tips, and reagents that go straight to the bin.

The conversation around lab sustainability has matured well beyond recycling tip boxes. Labs, funders, and institutions are asking a harder question: can we redesign workflows to use less in the first place? This approach is sometimes called protocol miniaturization, which involves scaling down reaction volumes and eliminating redundant steps to reduce sample consumption, reagent costs, and plastic waste, often by more than 80%.² NGS library preparation, specifically the PCR amplification and normalization phase, is one of the richest targets for that redesign.

The Hidden Waste in Standard NGS Library Prep

Most people think about NGS sustainability in terms of reagent volumes. But the bigger waste problem is process redundancy: steps added to a workflow not because they improve the biology, but because PCR amplification is uncontrolled.

Here is the chain reaction. Traditional fixed-cycle PCR doesn't know when to stop. High input samples over-amplify; low input samples under-amplify. To compensate, labs add upstream sample quantification, then post-PCR library SPRI cleanup, individual library quantification, and finally normalization. Every one of those correction steps means more pipette tips, more reagent tubes, more 96-well plates, and more hands-on time. These steps do not add value; they are compensatory waste.

For a single 96-sample batch, that translates to 96 extra individual library quantifications, 96 individual cleanup reactions, and dozens of normalization steps, all generating plastic and reagent waste.³

There is another layer of hidden waste that often goes unnoticed: Qubit quantification. In a standard 96-sample NGS workflow, each library typically requires an individual Qubit measurement, consuming 200 µL of fluorometric reagent per sample and generating yet another round of tubes and tips destined for the bin. Benchmarking data shows that icon96 can perform the same fluorometric quantification at just 50 µL per reaction, a 75% reduction in reagent consumption, while processing up to 94 samples simultaneously rather than 8 at a time, and saving an additional 15–30 minutes per run.⁴ For labs looking to consolidate instruments and cut consumable waste at every step of the workflow, this is a meaningful win that goes well beyond PCR. See our full technical note for details.

How icon96 Changes the Equation

The icon96 thermocycler with iconPCR™ technology and AutoNorm™ software was built around a fundamentally different premise: control amplification at the source, so you never need to correct it downstream.

Instead of applying fixed cycle counts to every sample, iconPCR™ monitors fluorescence in real time in every individual well and stops each reaction at its optimal endpoint automatically. Samples that need more amplification get more cycles. Samples that need fewer get fewer. The result is a plate of naturally balanced, normalized libraries produced during PCR itself, without the need for individual post-PCR quantification or normalization workflows.⁵

The sustainability math is straightforward:³

• 24 fewer workflow touchpoints per 96-sample batch
• 670 fewer pipette tips and reagent tubes eliminated per plate
• 3 fewer hours of hands-on time per run
• 40–60% reduction in consumable costs through simplified cycling and streamlined workflows
• A single pooled cleanup replaces 96 individual SPRI cleanups

One study using icon96 for Ultima Genomics workflows demonstrated a >95% reduction in time, consumables, tips, tubes, and 96-well plates compared to standard processing.⁶ That is not incremental improvement. That is a workflow redesign.

What About icon16?

The same AutoNorm technology powers the icon16, n6's compact instrument for smaller-batch labs running up to 16 samples per experiment.⁵ Translational research groups, PI labs, and clinical research teams face the same plastic waste problem at smaller scale: individual cleanups, individual quants, and individual normalizations all add up. icon16 brings the same step-elimination and consumable reduction to those environments, without requiring a centralized core facility or high-throughput volumes. Sustainable NGS isn't just for production labs anymore.

Miniaturization, Automation, and the Bigger Picture

The genomics community is increasingly converging on miniaturization and automation as the twin levers of sustainable lab practice.² Scaling down reaction volumes and eliminating redundant manual steps reduces not just plastic, but also CO₂ emissions, reagent costs, and the energy footprint of running additional instruments. Research from Alithea Genomics found that multiplexed transcriptomic workflows can cut plastic consumption by up to 95% through early sample pooling, which is precisely the same principle that drives icon96's design.⁷

icon96 fits naturally into this movement. It is fully compatible with standard automated liquid handling platforms including Beckman, Hamilton, Tecan, and Opentrons, and it operates with standard reagents and no proprietary kits required.³ Sustainability here doesn't demand a new ecosystem. It is delivered by removing steps from the one you already have.

Critically, better sustainability and better data are not a tradeoff with icon96. Fewer steps means fewer failure modes. Fewer cleanups means less sample loss. AutoNorm's per-well adaptive control means better library balance, fewer sequencing reruns, and less wasted sequencing capacity. As Dr. Anja Mezger at SciLifeLab noted, "iconPCR will help us streamline processes by eliminating QC and normalization steps, while also improving data quality by preventing over-amplification of samples.⁸

The Bottom Line for Green Labs

Labs striving for more sustainable workflows don't have to choose between environmental responsibility and scientific performance. icon96 and icon16 deliver both by solving the root cause of NGS library prep waste: uncontrolled PCR amplification that forces a cascade of downstream corrective steps, each one burning through plastic and reagents.

Less guesswork. Fewer steps. Less waste. Better data.

Want to see exactly how icon96 reduces your lab's consumable footprint?
👉 Download the n6 Automation Brochure, including a full breakdown of the workflow steps and plastics eliminated per 96-sample batch.

References

1. Frontline Genomics. (2025, September 8). Sustainability in the Lab: How to Make Your Science Greener. 
2. Biocompare Editorial. (2024, May 27). Reaction Miniaturization for NGS Library Preparation. 
3. n6. (2026). Technical Note: High-Throughput DNA Quantification Using the icon96 System — Benchmarking icon96 against the Qubit™ 4 Fluorometer for dsDNA quantification. n6tec.com.
4. n6. (2025, October 13). Scale Your NGS Operations with icon96: Where Intelligence Meets Automation [Automation Brochure]. n6tec.com. (Attached document; available for download via form on this page.)
5. n6. (2026). n6 iconPCR Sales Enablement Guide v2. Internal document; n6tec.com platform overview. n6tec.com
6. n6 / Ultima Genomics. (2025). iconPCR AutoNormalization for Ultima Genomics Sequencing [Poster]. 
7. Alithea Genomics. (2025, November 17). Tackling Plastic Waste and CO₂ Emissions for Pharma Sustainability: Does Massive Sample Multiplexing Help? 
8. n6. (2026). Introduction Deck (30 mins) 2026 — Customer testimonial: Dr. Anja Mezger, SciLifeLab. Internal presentation; quote approved for external use per n6 reference site program guidelines.

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