Designing Products for Environmental
Sustainability
GlaxoSmithKline aspires to be a sustainable company but recognises that it will take many years of hard work to develop and fully integrate design for sustainability principles into the business and to effect the necessary change in culture to move from aspiration to reality. The initial focus will be to align environmental aspects of sustainability with the delivery of new products.
An example of the environmental focus is the GlaxoSmithKline eco-design toolkit, which was developed to support new product development and product transfer or redesign of processes. The eco-design toolkit can help us bring products to market faster as scientists and engineers begin to apply the eco-design principles and practices to design-out potential problems early in development. It also will help us bring products to market more cost effectively, because eco-design principles and practices will enable us to use less material and energy to make our products. It will also enable research & development to address potential environment, health and safety (EHS) issues during process development before a process is handed over to manufacturing where the cost of addressing process-related EHS issues may be considerably higher.
The toolkit is currently composed of four modules. Each of these was significantly revised during 2003 to enhance usability and to promote a standard look and feel. Each module was designed to ensure that all EHS impacts of materials, processes and services are considered, from the manufacture of the raw materials through to the ultimate fate of products and wastes in the environment. The modules currently available include the following:
Green Chemistry Guide - offers guidance to GlaxoSmithKline scientists and engineers on how to apply Green Chemistry concepts to enable more efficient use of resources, reduce environment, health and safety impacts and minimise costs. It includes:
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a ranking and summary of the most used chemistries and 'best-in-class'
examples from well-developed GlaxoSmithKline processes
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a ranking and review of issues encountered during process design
and development
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a ranking and summary of common technology alternatives for
chemical processing
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guidance on materials, process alternatives, synthetic route
strategies and metrics for evaluating chemistries, technologies
and processes
Materials Guides:
Solvent Selection - contains information on a wide range of solvents used within GlaxoSmithKline operations and also identifies solvents that should be avoided. It:
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added a new section in 2003 to address recent legislative initiatives
that affect future solvent use in the European Union
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added a new section on the lifecycle impacts associated with
solvent manufacture
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compares and ranks 45 solvents according to environmental waste
profile, environmental impact, safety profile and health impact
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compares International Conference on Harmonisation (ICH) guidelines
on allowable concentrations of solvents in active pharmaceutical
ingredients against EHS characteristics of solvents
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provides information on boiling point and azeotrope formation
to assist in the selection of separable co-solvents
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provides detailed information on physical properties, safety,
health and environmental issues
Base Selection - ranks 42 chemical bases according
to their environmental waste profiles, environmental impacts, safety
profiles and health impacts. It also provides detailed information
on each base.
Green Packaging Guide - provides a packaging assessment
tool, guidance and a business process for selection of packaging
for the Pharmaceuticals and Consumer Healthcare businesses. In early
2003, the extensively revised site introduced a new interactive section
of the Green Packaging Guide known as WRAP - Wizard
for the Rapid Assessment of Packaging. WRAP is
a tool and process that allows packaging designers and managers to
rapidly assess the environmental impacts of existing and new packaging
designs. WRAP represents a significant enhancement and includes:
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a facility for benchmarking new and existing packaging designs. Benchmarking is undertaken against GlaxoSmithKline's existing product portfolio split into the different product types. The method used considers five metrics that cover the product life-cycle:
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manufacture of packaging
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mass of packaging
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biodegradability
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PVC content
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resource depletion
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a best-in-class example in each packaging category
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green packaging guides for nutritional healthcare products and
consumer healthcare products
Using a scoring mechanism, WRAP generates a simple colour-coded
report that clearly shows if the packaging associated with a product
is better or worse than the appropriate benchmark. WRAP also allows more detailed analysis of the underlying issues around the packaging and enables users to easily look at the effect of alternative packaging through scenario analysis. The benchmarks will be updated and expanded as more data on packaging for GlaxoSmithKline products are collected.
FLASC is the newest component of the eco-design
toolkit. FLASC (Fast Lifecycle Assessment for Synthetic Chemistry) was launched in 2003. FLASC is
a web-based application that allows bench chemists to perform a streamlined
life-cycle evaluation of the environmental consequences of new or
existing processes based upon the input materials used. FLASC is a process and tool that will enable an assessment of eight different environmental impact categories associated with materials used in a synthetic route or manufacturing process:
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mass of materials used
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energy required
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photochemical Ozone Creation Potential (POCP)
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greenhouse gas equivalents
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acidification
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eutrophication
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total organic carbon generated before any waste treatments
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oil and natural gas depletion for raw materials manufacture
FLASC helps scientists and managers to rapidly identify the greenest option by comparing and benchmarking processes and routes to make GlaxoSmithKline products using a simple scoring system. It identifies the materials that have the biggest environmental impacts and provides guidance on how to reduce those impacts. The tool also quantifies the energy and materials used in product manufacture, the emissions released, and potential environmental impacts. And it serves as a tracking system for synthetic route or manufacturing process improvement throughout GlaxoSmithKline.
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Synthetic Chemists at GlaxoSmithKline's site in Tonbridge have developed a novel chemistry route that is green and efficient. The chemistry involves the synthesis of a new compound for the treatment of Major Depressive Disorder.
Their key chemical issue was to identify an effective way to separate two mirror images of the same molecule that have very different therapeutic properties. The team used Multi Column Chromatography (MCC), a continuous form of column chromatography, rarely used in the Pharmaceutical industry. Their work led to a dramatically improved yield, with faster production and reduced solvent use.
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The total energy requirements of the MCC process are estimated to be ~46% less than other routes.
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There would be a 58% reduction in greenhouse gases.
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A 29% reduction in photochemical ozone creation potential.
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A 72% reduction in solvents and other organic matter.
Tonbridge, an R&D facility in the southeast of England, comprises laboratories, a multipurpose plant and facilities to support research & development activities associated with production of active pharmaceutical ingredients. The site's focus is on the discovery and development of chemical processes to support pre-clinical and clinical development programmes, the scale up of proposed manufacturing routes and the transfer of chemistry and analytical methods to GlaxoSmithKline manufacturing facilities. |
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