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Water

Water is a valuable natural resource that needs to be conserved and protected from pollution. Water conservation is particularly important in areas where water shortages are common.

GSK uses water in manufacturing (eg for processes, products, cooling and cleaning) and for general site uses including drinking, food services and sanitation. The amount of water our sites use varies according to the activities that take place. Primary supply sites – those that manufacture active pharmaceutical ingredients – are typically heavy users of water, as are sites that manufacture vaccines or produce drinks. Those involved in research and development and commercial sites typically use less.

The GSK water standard requires sites to minimise water use and re-use water whenever feasible. Sites are required to minimise the potential environmental impacts of discharging wastewater.

In 2005, we used 22 million cubic metres of water, an increase of less than 4% since 2004 but a 19% decrease since 2001.

We generated 17 million cubic metres of wastewater, 6% of this was reused, recovered or recycled.

We assess the quality of our wastewater by measuring the chemical oxygen demand (COD) - the oxygen required to chemically oxidise organic and inorganic compounds present in the water. Total COD decreased by 7% compared to 2004 (30% since 2001). COD per unit sales decreased by 34% since 2001 – meaning we met our 2005 target of a 30% reduction per unit sales since 2001. Much of this decrease was because of changes in the business.

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