Manual cleaning versus machine reprocessing of laboratory glassware and utensils

In this whitepaper, Miele provides an overview of the pros and cons of manual cleaning versus machine reprocessing of laboratory glassware and utensils. Experiments and analyses in laboratories require a steady supply of clean laboratory glassware in sufficient quantities. Excellent and reliable results can only be achieved if laboratory glassware and utensils are clean and residue-free from the outset. In other words, items should be free from any impurities and the process chemicals previously used. Producing this level of consistent quality is rare when using manual cleaning methods, which leave laboratories open to the risk of compromising the standards required for analytical work.

Even today, the manual cleaning of laboratory glassware is still commonplace. The reasons for this approach are usually pecuniary in nature – manual cleaning is cheaper than procuring and maintaining a laboratory glasswasher, or at least that is the general perception. Looking at the pros and cons more closely, this supposition turns out to be a fallacy.