Sustainability

Sustainability

Sustainability in the Biopharmaceutical Market

The Biopharmaceutical market adopted single-use biomanufacturing equipment, also called Single-Use Technology (SUT), more than ten years ago for many reasons such as process efficiencies, increased manufacturing, and flexibility. Sustainability is a growing concern as global warming is accelerating and plastic usage is under environmental pressure. Thus, decarbonization and circular economy are the two main trends observed in the market. While SUT applies in a clean room where HVAC systems are very carbon intensive and are incinerated or landfilled as it is required for hazardous waste, switching to SUT helps reduce energy and water consumption for washing and sterilization operations.1 This does not mean that the industry is not taking action. In fact, it is highly committed to collaborating to fight climate change and promote circular economy through global industry organizations such as BioPhorum and BPSA.

References: 
1 Single-use technology and sustainability: quantifying the environmental impact in biologic manufacturing, Cytiva

Sustainability in the News
Sustainability Q&A with Caroline Calmels of Saint-Gobain

BioPhorum discusses collaboration and partnership benefits with Sustainability Market Manager, Caroline Calmels.

View Case Study
Industry Consortium to Develop Sustainability Roadmap for Biopharma

Featuring Saint-Gobain Life Sciences VP for R&D and Innovation, Narender Yeshwanth

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Enhanced Operations and Key Equipment Upgrades at SGLS in Akron, OH

Saint-Gobain Life Sciences continues efforts to implement its global Grow and Impact strategy, which includes ambitious environmental sustainability goals.

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Moving Towards 2050

Saint-Gobain Bioprocess Solutions is actively participating in BioPhorum and BPSA sustainability working groups, both to be part of the solution and to set an ambitious roadmap for more sustainability within life sciences.

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BioPhorum Sustainability

BioPhorum Sustainability Roadmap, 2022 
©BioPhorum Operations Group LTD v3 2021

BPS Vision on Sustainability, Starting Our Journey

Committed to delivering innovative solutions for the biopharmaceutical market that maximize impact for our customers, while minimizing our footprint.

In 2022, Saint-Gobain Bioprocess Solutions launched an internal project to precisely define its sustainability roadmap according to market expectations and priorities.

Our teams are committed to answering any sustainability requests. See below for a non-exhaustive list:

           *Other company scorecards available

How to Address Sustainability in the Biopharmaceutical Industry
Video: Decarbonization and Circular Economy

Hear from our Sustainability Market Manager, Caroline Calmels, as she provides an overview of our sustainability efforts.

Our Offer

As one example, our ValPlus™ service offers sustainability benefits to customers:

The documented cleanliness of ValPlus™ eliminates the need for our customers to rinse and cleanse the inner part of the tube. Thus, it is reducing the time needed for operations, and, therefore, the resources required on site. In addition, this offer demonstrates environmental benefits. Our customers are reducing their usage of Water for Injection (WFI) consumption by up to several million liters and the energy required to dry the tubes.

Manufacturing in a Responsible Manner

In line with the Saint-Gobain 2025 and 2030 objectives on waste, water, energy, and CO2 (scope 1 and scope 2), Saint-Gobain Bioprocess Solutions plants are reporting on several indicators to keep improving their environmental performances. To continuously improve our environmental performance, 60% of our plants obtained the Environmental Management certification ISO 14001. View ISO Certificates 

Energy & Carbon Emission

Saint-Gobain Bioprocess Solutions' Scope 1 is relatively low compared to Scope 2 and Scope 3. However, improvements are being made in every category.

 

Scope 1

Covers direct emissions from owned or controlled sources, such as emissions associated with fuel combustion in boilers, furnaces, and vehicles.

Scope 2

Covers indirect emissions from the generation of purchased electricity, steam, heating, and cooling consumed by the reporting company.

Scope 3

Includes all other indirect emissions that occur in a company’s value chain.

Scope Examples

  • Scope 1 - Replacing propane-powered forklifts with an electric-powered fleet or reducing the amount of natural gas used for heating by improving the thermal efficiencies of our sites and operations.
  • Scope 2 - Saint-Gobain North America (United States and Canada) has entered into two virtual power purchase agreements (vPPA) in 2020 (Invenergy) and 2022 (TotalEnergies) totaling 320 megawatts (MW) of green electricity. The two projects combined are expected to represent a 62% reduction in Saint-Gobain North America’s scope 2 emissions over the next 10 years, effective. The second PPA will be active as of end 2024.
  • Scope 3 - Saint-Gobain Bioprocess Solutions has begun quantifying the broader emissions related to the life cycle of our products and services. We aim to provide accurate and thorough emissions data in support of our customers’ carbon accounting requirements.

Increasingly, Saint-Gobain Bioprocess Solutions is localizing its production sites. This will help reduce the footprint coming from transportation, among other benefits.

Waste Management

To pursue our commitment on waste, recycling partnerships are in place for our silicone scraps in some of our North American and European plants. The partner recovers and collects scraps to recycle silicone into oil. For one of the sites, it then becomes raw material for other Saint-Gobain affiliates in the construction industry. 

Water Management

To reduce our environmental footprint, we are committed to achieving the objectives of 50% reduction of industrial water withdrawal and zero water discharge in areas with extremely high-water risk. As an example, most of our factories are using recirculation systems to minimize their impact on water consumption, which helps reduce hundreds of thousands of cubic meters per year and per site, on average.

Local and Inclusive Value Creation

Saint-Gobain Bioprocess Solutions facilities are located next to communities in various types of areas. As an example, in Charny, France, a campaign called “Saint-Gobain Charn-ity” has been launched to promote inclusion in schools and to fight against social discrimination. Donations of School and early childhood equipment are collected for the children of Charny and its surrounding areas.

Having a Conscious Use of Plastic

As a principle of circular economy, reducing the use of plastic is the most virtuous option. Committed to starting work in circularity, an internal project has been launched to explore new concepts around reducing or removing spool packaging. This is a win-win-win approach: reducing waste generation and costs associated at our customer site, reducing dependency on plastic packaging on our side, and reducing the consumption of plastics for a reduced impact on the environment. 

We also intend to explore eco-innovation in our product development for weight optimization, reduced packaging, design for easy disassembly, extended shelf life, and so many other paths for a more sustainable offer.

Collaborating With Our Customers

We take an innovative approach to developing concrete initiatives with our customers, such as collaborative projects on environmental performance. From easing carbon accountability and providing transparency on our product, to detailing our CSR approach among others, we are ready to identify common initiatives to launch collaboratively. Contact Us

Collaborating with customers