Hazardous waste disposed represents total hazardous waste generated minus the hazardous waste that has been reused, recovered or recycled. Bioengineered and biohazardous waste is included in hazardous waste. Most hazardous waste is composed of waste solvents.

In 2001 we reported 61.2 million kilograms of hazardous waste disposed. Minor adjustments were made to values reported in 2001 resulting in a baseline change to 61.3 million kilograms. In 2002, GSK disposed of 60.0 million kilograms of hazardous waste representing a 2% decrease. Nearly 80% of the total hazardous waste disposed in 2002 is solvent waste, 18% is general site waste and the remaining 2% (Other) is chemical/biological/radiological and demolition/construction wastes. In 2002, nearly half of all hazardous waste disposed (47%) was treated to obtain beneficial energy/resource recovery.

A target has been set to decrease hazardous waste disposed by 15% by the end of 2005 on a per unit sales basis.