Choosing a sustainable product used to mean digging through spec sheets, sustainability reports, and marketing claims with no easy way to verify what was actually true. Thomas Scientific is changing that. As an ACT Ecolabel Channel Partner with My Green Lab, the leading nonprofit dedicated to laboratory sustainability, Thomas Scientific now surfaces third-party verified sustainability data right at the point of purchase — so customers can make informed, science-based decisions without leaving the catalog.
What the My Green Lab Partnership Means for Customers
Through this partnership, Thomas Scientific integrates ACT Ecolabel certification identifiers directly into its catalog and purchasing platform. Instead of researching a product's environmental credentials separately, customers can see ACT certification status alongside the products they already browse and order every day. It's sustainability information built into the buying process, not bolted on as an afterthought.
What Is the ACT Ecolabel?
The ACT Ecolabel is a multi-attribute certification built specifically for laboratory products — consumables, equipment, chemicals, reagents, PPE, and kits. What sets it apart from other sustainability claims and greenwashing attempts in the market is rigor: every claim behind an ACT certification is independently audited by a third party, using a science-based framework designed for the realities of lab work.
A few things make ACT unique in the lab space:
- It is currently the only ecolabel for laboratory products approved by the U.S. EPA.
- It aligns with the EU Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition, giving it relevance for globally operating labs.
- Certified products receive a 100-point weighted Environmental Performance Factor (ACT EPF) score, communicated through a simple color-coded system that makes comparison straightforward.
To earn certification, products are evaluated across a comprehensive set of criteria, including:
- Product materials and the presence of hazardous chemicals
- Equipment energy consumption
- Product support and end-of-life options
- Packaging and shipping impacts
- Availability of a product carbon footprint
- Manufacturing facility practices, including renewable energy use
- Manufacturer commitments to greenhouse gas reduction
- Recent, demonstrable sustainability improvements
In short, ACT certification looks at a product's full lifecycle — not just a single green claim — which is exactly the kind of scrutiny lab buyers have been asking for.
ACT-Certified Suppliers Available Through Thomas Scientific
Thomas Scientific's catalog currently features ACT-certified products from 11 supplier partners: Agilent Technologies, Ansell, Arvensis, Diversified Biotech, Eppendorf, Greiner Bio-One, Labcon, METTLER TOLEDO, Qiagen, Sartorius, and Thermo Scientific. This list will continue to grow.
That breadth matters. It means customers outfitting a lab — from PPE and consumables to instrumentation — can factor verified sustainability data into sourcing decisions across categories, rather than only for a handful of niche products.
Why This Partnership Matters
Labs are under growing pressure to reduce their environmental footprint, whether that's driven by institutional sustainability goals, funder requirements, or a genuine desire to do better by the planet. But sustainability claims in scientific procurement have historically been hard to verify, subjecting customers to greenwashing attempts that only lead to uncertainty. My Green Lab's ACT Ecolabel solves that problem with independent audits and a standardized scoring system, and Thomas Scientific's role as a Channel Partner puts that information directly in front of customers at the moment it's most useful: while they're deciding what to buy.
This partnership reflects a broader commitment at Thomas Scientific to help customers build more sustainable labs without adding friction to the purchasing process. Verified data, presented clearly, at the point of decision — that's the goal.
Explore ACT-Certified Products
Ready to see which products in your next order carry ACT certification? Visit the Thomas Scientific Sustainability page to learn more about the ACT Ecolabel and start browsing certified options from the suppliers you already trust.