In 2003, GSK disposed of 44.5 million kilograms of non-hazardous waste representing a greater than 18% decrease from the 2001 baseline. Site waste represents 97.3% of non-hazardous waste disposed in 2003 and other (non-infectious and bio-hazardous waste) the remaining 2.7%. In 2003, 67.4% of non-hazardous waste (excluding demolition and construction waste) was sent to landfill which has been consistent for years, 67.2% and 66.3% in 2001 and 2002, respectively. The remaining 32.6% of non-hazardous waste is sent for treatment of which 56.6% was treated with beneficial recovery. Many sites continue to look for ways to reduce waste and have undertaken reviews of their operations to find ways to reduce the amount of non-hazardous waste that must be treated or sent to landfill.

The 44.5 million kilograms of non-hazardous waste disposed by GSK operations worldwide is equivalent to the household waste produced by approximately 37,000 UK households.

In 2001 we set a target to reduce non-hazardous waste disposed (excluding demolition and construction waste) by 8% on a per unit sales basis by the end of 2005 and we exceeded that target in 2003.