Spotlight:

 

Planting 1000 Trees in Los Angeles for Wildfire Recovery

The recent wildfires in Los Angeles have devastated local communities, homes, businesses, and the delicate ecosystems that call the region home. Thousands of acres of forested land were reduced to ash, erasing decades of natural growth in a matter of days. The loss of vegetation has far-reaching consequences, from the destruction of wildlife habitats to the destabilization of soil, which increases the risk of landslides and erosion. Moreover, the wildfires have released massive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change and compromising air quality for the millions of residents who live in the region.

Trees play a critical role in mitigating these effects by stabilizing the soil, sequestering carbon, and restoring habitats for countless species. In urban areas like Los Angeles, they also provide essential shade, lower surface temperatures, and improve air quality—factors that are vital as the city grapples with the challenges of a warming climate. The absence of tree cover exacerbates the urban heat island effect, making neighborhoods hotter and less hospitable, especially for vulnerable populations. Without deliberate efforts to replant, the scars left by the wildfires may linger for years, and the area’s ability to recover could be severely hampered.

Eurofins Genomics is investing in reforestation for the Los Angeles area by planting 1000 new trees. Replanting trees is more than an act of environmental stewardship—it’s an investment in the future resilience of Los Angeles. Restoring forests in wildfire-affected areas is essential for reestablishing ecological balance and protecting communities from future disasters. Every tree planted helps to rebuild ecosystems, absorb greenhouse gases, and restore the natural beauty of the region. The effort to replant 1,000 trees is not just a step toward recovery but also a symbol of hope, showing that even in the face of devastation, collective action can lead to renewal and growth.

  

 

 

Restoring forests in Madagascar

Transforming Madagascar: Farmers Leading the Reforestation Effort for Evertreen

Women's Reforestation Efforts in Madagascar's Forests

Evertreen's Reforestation Training for Farmers

 


Guiding Principles of Sustainability

 

Eurofins Genomics is deeply committed to environmental responsibility and sustainability. The company strives to minimize its ecological impact through energy-efficient practices, waste reduction, and resource conservation across its operations. Eurofins integrates sustainable practices into its research, manufacturing, and service offerings, ensuring that their scientific advancements align with environmental stewardship. By adopting green technologies, reducing emissions, and promoting sustainable sourcing, Eurofins Genomics plays a proactive role in protecting the environment for future generations.

     
Reduce Reuse Recycle
Our state-of-the-art manufacturing reagent delivery system and use of alternative solvents reduces chemical and petro chemical consumption while decreasing the risk of hazardous spills. We co-process our waste chemicals which ensures complete thermal destruction of these chemicals, but also replaces fossil fuels used by our co-processing partners. Our recycling program utilizes a select vendor to use our waste as power for their cement kilns, which recovers the energy and mineral components in a waste-free process.
     
     
     
     
Carbon Footprint
Waste Management Packaging
Our carbon footprint has been vastly reduced by use of recycled and recyclable paper, bio-degradable plastics, vegetable based inks, and smartly designed packaging options for our eco-friendly Marketing materials. We have chosen to reuse the large, bulk chemical containers in our facility. This greatly lowers the amount of glass and other non-reusable matter associated with large scale products within our shipping & receiving departments. We have committed our office areas to be a recycle-friendly area with plenty of bins and receptacles for papers, plastics, cans, and glass. We also recycle the shipping boxes and other packaging we receive.

More Environmental Initiatives

Sustainable Synthesizers

Eurofins Genomics’ designed and developed a revolutionary new oligonucleotide synthesis platform which has made the synthesis process ‘greener’ and has changed the perception of cost and speed in everyday research.  Early estimates project that the new synthesis technology will reduce chemical consumption by 60%.

Scientists at Eurofins Genomics conceived the new platform with a view to bridge the gap in the marketplace between traditional synthesizers that generated oligonucleotides efficiently, but at a larger scale than required for several applications, and the chip-based synthesizers that generate bulk quantities of oligonucleotides, suited primarily for synthetic biology field, but often require rather expensive and time consuming post-process purifications.

Since the launch of the new synthesis platform, operations have noticed a significant reduction in the consumption of chemicals. Speaking about this, Dr. Philipp Wenter said, “We noticed that on the new synthesis platform we can reduce the volume of the solid support column (which determines the synthesis scale), by 20- and 40-fold without any loss in oligo quality. Moreover, efficient dispensing of small volumes of reagents in a rapid and controlled manner further facilitates reduced reagent consumption. When synthesizing oligos at the 4 nmol synthesis scale, we have noticed a reduction in the phosphoramidite consumption by a range of 50-70% when compared to that used by the traditional platform. Similar reductions are also observed in the solvent consumption.”

Speaking to the ‘green’ initiative, Sumit Gupta, President, Eurofins Genomics US said, “While the primary objective of the synthesizer is to generate high-quality oligos rapidly and reliably, the ‘green’ aspect of the synthesizer is very much in alignment with our corporate values. Besides this, we have also initiated other projects, including e-billing and compact invoices to further reduce the impact of our environmental footprint.”

 

Reduction in Packaging

Eurofins Genomics recently implemented a new system of digital shipping labels to replace overnight shipping kits and decrease its environmental footprint. The old system of ordering Overnight Shipping Kit was wasteful particularly because of the abundance of extra envelopes, paper, and packaging, much of which was thrown away. The new digital shipping label will be provided free for qualifying orders and printed locally, so the exact amount of material needed is used, leaving very little waste. Below are the three primary areas that we hope to reduce our environmental footprint in, although additional reductions are expected in auxiliary areas related to fuel and logistics.

  1. Reduction in paper and plastic utilized by the shipping envelopes, which were not fully utilized. Meaning, many were thrown away.
  2. Reduction in cardboard utilized to ship the overnight kits to customers.
  3. Reduction in shipments due to consolidation of samples into fewer packages.

We currently ship enough prepaid, UPS envelopes each year to cover the same square footage as Buckingham Palace! We estimate that at least half of these envelopes go unused and eventually thrown away.

 

Reduction in Paper Usage

To further cut down on our environmental impact, we switched to e-invoicing instead of paper billing. All accounts will automatically be switched over to e-invoicing, unless you opt out.  E-invoices will be sent to the email address in your billing address. To avoid any interruptions in your service, please make sure that email address goes to the correct person.

Receiving Email Invoices

  1. Login to your account
  2. Go to your Address Book (main navigation> resources> my account> address book)
  3. Check that this email address on your BILLING ADDRESS goes to the correct person, such as a PI, purchasing manager, or the appropriate person at your organization

Receiving Paper invoices

If you wish to continue receiving paper statements, you must turn this setting on in your account settings.

  1. Login to your account
  2. Go to your account settings (link is in top right corner)
  3. Open the tab named "Update Contact"
  4. Check the box next to "Send Paper Invoice(s)"
  5. Click update