Here at Fagron, we find it important to set feasible goals and targets when it comes to environmental topics. As the 5th of June is the World Environment Day, we would like to give you an update on what we have done so far and are planning next.
We focus on the following three environmental topics:
- Carbon footprint & energy use
- Air & soil pollution
- Waste management
In our last article about our environmental efforts, we looked at the carbon footprint and energy use. This time, we are going to look at waste management. Curious to see what is coming next? Keep reading!
How it started
We carefully package our products in line with the legislation for pharmaceutical and dermatological products. Both packaging waste and pharmaceutical waste from our production process can have consequences for the environment if they are not being handled properly.
We want to reduce our environmental footprint by improving waste management at all our facilities. In 2021, we identified the different types of waste released at our global locations. It was difficult to quantity the amount of waste per location as most facilities are not charged based on weight of processed waste. It did become clear that packaging waste was the largest waste flow in all our facilities.
Our targets
At the beginning of 2022, we have set a goal to ensure that all types of packaging waste at the facilities are both separated and recycled by the end of 2025. The packaging waste streams we focus on are:
- Paper and cardboard (These include packaging)
- Metal packaging
- Plastic packaging
What we have done so far
Near the end of 2021, we were separating paper and cardboard in a bit more than half of all our locations, metal packaging in 1/3rd and plastic packaging in 1/4th!
In 2022, we carried out some additional research to:
- Create an overview of the different types of waste streams that are released and how they are processed, and
- Identify potential waste management companies for the locations where the three packaging streams are not separated and recycled yet.
In this process, those employees responsible for waste disposal at their respective facility were consulted. We now have a clear overview of the current state and possibilities in waste management of packaging.
Next steps
We are currently creating a plan to make sure that all locations separate packaging waste by the end of 2025. This includes seeing if we can integrate e waste management contracts for multiple facilities. This will be both cost and time effective and is ultimately better for the environment!
Of course, we will not stop there. We also strive to minimize the amount of hazardous and residual waste generated at our facilities and want to contribute to the reduction of the quantity of used packaging and shift from fossil-based plastic to sustainable alternatives.
Follow our ESG journey
We try to ensure our goals are being met and want to be transparent about our results and activities. We plan to give even more updates and of course, you can find more details in our annual report for 2021.
We are always interested in hearing about ESG initiatives at our companies and organizations. If you have any questions or suggestions on what we could do to improve, you can reach us at ESG@fagron.com.
