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Most of the active ingredients in our pharmaceutical products are
manufactured using synthetic chemistry processes. The majority of
the waste generated contains solvents and chemicals used in these
processes together with materials generated during formulation and
packaging operations. The amounts of waste from manufacturing processes
are included in our figures together with general site waste.
GSK classifies its waste into three categories: general site waste, solvent waste and demolition or construction waste. Although the definition of what constitutes a waste varies among countries, provinces and states, for GSK reporting purposes a material is considered a waste if it is no longer fit for its originally intended purpose.
For consistent reporting, GSK considers a waste to be hazardous
if it exhibits any of a number of properties as defined by the Basel
Convention in 1989 of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Included in these properties are flammability, explosivity, water
or air reactivity, corrosivity, oxidising potential, acute or chronic
toxicity, ecotoxicity or infection. In addition, because of their
nature and potential impact on research & development activities,
radioactive wastes are defined as hazardous. A waste is considered
to be non-hazardous if it does not exhibit any of the hazardous
properties noted above.
GSK reports four measures for waste:
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Hazardous waste disposed includes hazardous waste that has been sent to landfill or that has been treated either on GSK property or at offsite destinations. Treatment includes processes that result in beneficial energy or resource recovery and those that do not. Hazardous waste disposed does NOT include hazardous waste recycled on-site or off-site or demolition and construction-related waste.
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Non-hazardous waste disposed includes non-hazardous waste that has been sent to landfill or that has been treated either on GSK property or at offsite destinations. Treatment includes processes that result in beneficial energy or resource recovery and those that do not. Non-hazardous waste disposed does NOT include non-hazardous waste recycled on-site or off-site or demolition and construction-related waste.
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Waste recycled includes hazardous and non-hazardous waste (not demolition or construction-related waste) that has been reused, recovered or recycled, including in-process recycling, onsite and offsite.
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Demolition and construction-related waste disposed includes demolition and construction-related waste that has been sent to landfill or that has been treated either on GSK property or at offsite destinations. Treatment includes processes that result in beneficial energy or resource recovery and those that do not. Demolition and construction waste disposed does NOT include waste recycled onsite and off-site. In past years, we have included demolition and construction related waste in the total waste figures. This year we report waste associated with demolition and construction activities separately because of the inconsistent nature of demolition and construction activities and the potential to obscure trends in site and process waste. All previous year hazardous and non-hazardous waste figures now exclude demolition and construction-related wastes.
Twenty-two projects from fifteen different global manufacturing
operations were submitted to the GSK CEO's EHS Excellence Awards
2003 programme describing waste minimisation, avoidance or
management initiatives. This provides an indication of the level
at which the concept of waste management and reduction is integrated
into the business. The projects varied from waste recycling to avoiding
waste creation and improved classification of waste streams. One
specific example was a winning project submitted jointly by two
sites in India, "Biocomposting
of Solid Wastes". |
