Materials Use

Customers, governments and other stakeholders are increasingly interested in the materials and chemical substances used in products and packaging. With regard to medical products, this is due to employee, clinician and patient health and safety in addition to environmental impacts, in particular at the product's end-of-life stage. In parts of the world, legislation restricts the use of specific substances in products (see Case Study: Materials Restrictions). Customers are also interested in which materials are recyclable, such as in product packaging.

Baxter carefully considers the potential impacts of the materials it uses in its products and packaging, and takes a disciplined approach to identifying materials for possible restriction. The company focuses both on the amount and the types of materials used, working to eliminate hazardous substances wherever possible. Baxter also works to maximize product service life, reuse and recycling when appropriate, for its electronic products, for example.

In 2010, Baxter purchased more than 188,000 metric tons of major commodities for use in its products and packaging, in addition to pre-manufactured components (see Major Materials Used in Manufacturing). The company continues to work to improve the efficiency of its materials use. For example, during 2010, the company implemented projects that achieved an annualized reduction of 140 metric tons of corrugated cardboard consumption and a total packaging material reduction of 247 metric tons, providing a total savings of 3,500 metric tons since 2007¹ (see Packaging for details). Plastic scrap from manufacturing is Baxter's largest waste stream, generating roughly one-third of the company's non-hazardous waste, so reducing plastic waste and increasing recycling is another key focus (see Waste for details).

Product Design

Baxter's research and development and manufacturing operations work with environmental, health and safety (EHS) specialists to ensure that new products meet robust environmental design principles, comply with environmental regulations and satisfy customer requirements. This involves avoiding hazardous substances wherever possible, minimizing resource use and enhancing opportunities for product recovery, reuse, and recycling when appropriate.

As part of the company's product development process, Baxter applies a Product Sustainability Review to all new medical devices, assessing health and safety and environmental impacts across the product life cycle, including those related to materials selection and use. This includes an enhanced screen for toxic chemicals. Baxter eliminates those materials whenever feasible. For example, new devices under development are designed to meet the European Union's Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive guidelines worldwide and will avoid chemicals from the REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) Directive list of "Substances of Very High Concern" as is feasible. Baxter is also evaluating using the IEC 60601-1-9, an international standard for environmentally conscious design, on a new electromechanical device currently being developed.

Reporting Materials Use

Customers and governmental regulations increasingly require companies to disclose information about materials and chemical substances used in products and manufacturing. However, effectively tracking and complying with these regulations is complex given the volume and evolution of these standards, and since a product may contain many components from numerous suppliers worldwide.

To better meet this challenge, Baxter is implementing a product stewardship software application to manage environmental and other information related to new and existing products. This includes information about product materials content, which will help Baxter evaluate compliance to the RoHS and REACH Directives as well as similar emerging regulations in other parts of the world. This system will interface with other company product information systems as well as supplier information systems, allowing Baxter to better understand, manage and optimize product environmental performance and meet customer needs. The company is gathering materials content data from suppliers and began populating the system in the spring of 2011.

Materials Innovations

To meet the preferences of some customers and address drug compatibility issues in specific clinical applications, Baxter has invested significant resources to develop a variety of materials that meet the unique technical, design, regulatory, clinical and commercial requirements of individual product lines and markets. The company now offers a portfolio of more than 300 intravenous medications, parenteral nutrition solutions, injectable drugs, biopharmaceuticals, IV sets and access devices and other products that use or are contained in non-DEHP [di-(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate] or non-PVC materials.

See Baxter's position statement on PVC in medical products.

Broader Impacts

Baxter recognizes the interrelationship between materials choices and other environmental issues. The company estimates that in 2010 the emissions in Baxter's supply chain attributable to Baxter's business equaled 1,152,000 metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e), 38% of Baxter's total GHG emissions footprint. This included an estimated 274,000 metric tons CO₂e for Baxter's first-tier suppliers, and 878,000 metric tons CO₂e for emissions from sub-tier suppliers, including raw materials extraction and processing as well as other activities (see Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Climate Change for more detail).

In 2009, Baxter completed externally verified life cycle assessments (LCAs) demonstrating the significant environmental benefits of FLEXBUMIN - the first and only albumin in a flexible, plastic container - compared to a similar product in a glass bottle. In addition to enhancing convenience for customers and users, the non-PVC FLEXBUMIN container system has a 55-77% smaller carbon footprint, depending on product size and geography (see Case Study: FLEXBUMIN Life Cycle Assessment for more detail).

In 2010, Baxter undertook a streamlined LCA that compared two generations of dialyzer products to evaluate how material changes affect environmental performance. Dialyzers are filters used during hemodialysis to eliminate waste products from the blood of people with end-stage kidney disease. The housing of Baxter’s new XENIUM+ dialyzer was converted from a more carbon-intensive plastic, polycarbonate, to a lower carbon-intensive plastic, polypropylene. Polypropylene has a 75% lower carbon footprint than polycarbonate.² When compared to the previous generation dialyzers, XENIUM+ has significant environmental benefits. It is BPA-free, uses less resin during manufacturing, generates less biohazardous waste and uses less corrugated packaging.

1	These savings represent the total savings attributable to identified projects across the company, counted only for the first year the packaging innovation is implemented.
2	Carbon Trust Footprint Expert Database.