Materials Use
Customers, governments and other stakeholders are increasingly interested in the types of 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 they can potentially recycle, such as in product packaging.
Baxter carefully considers the potential impacts of the materials it uses in its products and packaging. The company focuses both on the amount and the types of materials used, aiming to eliminate hazardous substances wherever possible. Baxter takes a disciplined approach to managing substances used in products and identifying materials for possible restriction. The company also works to maximize product service life, reuse and recycling when appropriate, for its electronic products, for example.
In 2008, Baxter purchased more than 165,000 metric tons of materials for use in its products and packaging, in addition to pre-manufactured components (see Major Materials Used in Manufacturing). The company continues to improve the efficiency of its materials use. For example, in 2008 Baxter reduced the packaging size for the majority of U.S. Renal solution cartons, decreasing the storage space required by customers in their homes by 30 percent. Due to this initiative, Baxter realized a corrugate reduction of 360 metric tons in the second half of 2008 and is positioned to realize a decrease of 800 metric tons in 2009. Plastic scrap continues to be Baxter’s largest waste stream, generating roughly one-third of the company’s non-hazardous waste, so reducing plastic waste and increasing recycling is a key area of focus (see Waste).
Baxter's research and development and manufacturing operations work with environment, health and safety (EHS) specialists to ensure that new products meet robust environmental design principles, comply with environmental directives and satisfy customer requirements. This involves avoiding hazardous substances wherever possible, minimizing resource use and enhancing opportunities for reuse, recovery 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 a screen for toxic chemicals, enhanced during 2008. Baxter eliminates those materials whenever feasible. For example, a new Global Anesthesia and Critical Care device under development will meet the European Union's Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive guidelines regarding restricted materials worldwide and will not contain chemicals from the REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) regulation list of “Substances of Very High Concern.” Baxter is using the device to evaluate using IEC 60601-1-9, an international standard for environmentally conscious design.
Customers and governmental regulations are increasingly requiring companies to disclose information about what materials are and are not included in products. However, effectively tracking the materials and chemical substances used in products and manufacturing is complex since a product may contain thousands of components from hundreds of suppliers worldwide. To better meet this challenge, Baxter has purchased a product stewardship software application to manage environmental and other information related to all new and existing products. This system will interface with other company information systems related to products and also supplier information systems. This will allow Baxter to better understand, manage and optimize product environmental performance and meet customer needs. The company began phasing in this system in 2009, and is exploring how to use standards such as IPC 1752, related to materials declaration sheets and developed originally for the electronics industry, to streamline the data-collection process.
Non-PVC Products
One area of innovation at Baxter is non-PVC products. To meet the preferences of some customers and address drug compatibility issues in specific clinical applications, Baxter offers a portfolio of intravenous medications, parenteral nutrition solutions, injectable drugs, biopharmaceuticals, access systems, administration devices and other products that use or are contained in non-PVC or non-DEHP [di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate] materials.
See Baxter’s position statement on PVC in medical products.
Broader Impacts
Baxter recognizes the interrelationship between materials choices and other environmental issues such as climate change. For example, Baxter has historically packaged the protein albumin in glass containers, but switched to a non-PVC plastic container with its FLEXBUMIN products in 2005. In addition to enhancing convenience for customers and users, this may reduce associated environmental impacts due to the smaller amount of energy required to manufacture and transport the new containers compared to glass. Using third party expertise and verification, Baxter is conducting a life cycle assessment to quantify these savings, and expects the results to be available later in 2009.
