Material usage in commercial lateral flow assay kits

Abstract

ObjectiveTo assess material usage in commercial lateral flow assay kits and determine baselines for quantitative material requirements in target product profiles for new tests.MethodsWe collected and weighted the components of 21 different commercial COVID-19 lateral flow test kits, with emergency use authorisations from the UK MHRA, EU, the US FDA, and the WHO EUL. We took test kits apart manually, classified components and weighted them individually.FindingsLarge variations in the total average weights of COVID-19 LFA cassette test kits were observed from 13 g per test to 84 g. The average weight of standard LFA housing in the sample is 4.1 g per casing (range 2.47 g - 6.54 g) whilst the outer packaging makes up between 25% and over 88% of the whole kit and was found to be a large source of weight variations, followed by instructions and LFA housing types.ConclusionThe contribution of LFA tests to global plastic pollution is set to grow year-on-year due to increasingly decentralised testing. Wide variation in the weight of components included in existing COVID-19 test kits suggests there is scope for manufacturers to reduce the amount of materials, including plastic, in test products. We propose that a quantitative baseline of material usage is introduced in future target product profiles for LFA format test kits. This would limit the number of products with a large volume of plastic from reaching the market and reduce the burden of plastic waste from diagnostic testing on local waste management systems.