Natural resources are growing ever scarcer, which makes it imperative for us to use raw materials as efficiently as possible and help reduce waste. By conserving energy, water and materials, we are not only mitigating our impact on the environment, but are also lowering our costs.
We are constantly working to reduce the environmental footprint of our products and even help our customers lower their own resource use, thus boosting our competitive advantage.
Our approach to resource efficiency
Our approach to resource efficiency helps us minimize our consumption of energy, water and materials while also maximizing resource reuse. Underpinned by our climate target, we are driving energy efficiency across our company and conserving energy. Furthermore, since 2015 we've been implementing a sustainable water management system in a bid to reduce our water use. When it comes to waste and recycling, we are working to cut down the waste we produce by means of our Waste Scoring System. Because we utilize a large chunk of resources for the manufacture of our products, resource efficiency is a critical factor in developing our products and production processes.
How we structure resource efficiency
The measures we employ to utilize and conserve resources more efficiently are an integral component of our environmental practices and are overseen by our Group function Environment, Health, Safety, Security, Quality (EQ) (see also Environmental stewardship).
Our commitment: Guidelines and standards
Our key guidelines and standards for resource efficiency are detailed under Waste and recycling and Water management. Overarching standards can be found under Environmental stewardship.
Reducing resource use
Our manufacturing operations consume a great deal of energy, but our buildings likewise require energy in the form of electricity and heat. In a bid to lower energy use, we are investing in measures to boost energy efficiency through our Edison program. These efforts are a mainstay of our commitment to climate preservation.
We use water primarily for cooling, for exhaust air purification and as process water. Our water management approach combines water use reduction with wastewater treatment.
Our waste and recycling management approach helps us lower waste and maximize reuse, objectives we achieve by separating waste and enhancing production processes.
We primarily use chemical and pharmaceutical raw materials for our manufacturing operations. Additionally, we also employ operating supplies and packaging materials such as folding boxes, glass bottles and ampules.
We utilized 400.2 metric kilotons of material in 2017. We only record the weight of the materials that are directly used in our pharmaceuticals and chemicals.