Page 297 - Design for Environment A Guide to Sustainable Product Development

Medical and Pharmaceutical Industries 273

to better understand, manage, and optimize product environmental
performance.
Product End-of-Life
The responsible treatment of electronic healthcare products at the
end of their useful life is an emerging issue worldwide. Baxter has
had programs for several years to refurbish and return products to
use as appropriate, and to recycle products when reuse is not feasible.
Baxter has introduced even more comprehensive product take-back
in Europe, in accordance with the European Union Waste Electrical
and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive (see Chapter 3).
Many of the electronic medical products Baxter sells, such as
intravenous (IV) infusion pumps, are well suited to repair and refur-
bishment after the original customer has finished using them. In
some countries, Baxter leases most of these products to customers,
which helps ensure that products will be returned to Baxter after a set
period of time. Repair and refurbishment extends a product’s useful
life and decreases the environmental impacts associated with prod-
uct disposal and the manufacture of new products. For example, in
Europe in 2007, Baxter conducted about 38,300 maintenance events
and repairs on products (an increase of 9% from 2006) with a cumu-
lative weight of approximately 1,600 metric tons (an increase of 7%
from 2006). In the United States, Baxter refurbished a total of about
18,300 renal machines, blood collection devices, and nutrition com-
pounding machines in 2007.
When customers return products to Baxter that contain batteries,
such as infusion pumps, or when Baxter repairs those products on-
site, Baxter sends the batteries to a recycler whenever feasible. As part
of its global audit program covering all the regulated or medical waste
recycling or disposal sites that Baxter uses, trained Baxter auditors
assess battery recycling sites before using the recycling vendor. These
sites are then reassessed at least once every four years to ensure they
comply with Baxter’s requirements and conduct their operations in an
environmentally responsible manner. These audits examine all aspects
of operations, including site history, possible contamination sources,
regulatory compliance, financial conditions, insurance, and other factors.
In addition, Baxter works with customers and end-users to facili-
tate recycling. For example, Baxter is a charter member of the Chicago
Waste to Profit Network, a public-private partnership launched in
2007 through which companies and other organizations work to iden-
tify and develop potential ways to convert waste from one company
into value for another.
In Ireland, Baxter launched a program in 2007 with local waste
management contractors to provide pick-up services at patient resi-
dences for home-use oncology products, such as vials, needles, and
drugs that cannot be processed with regular municipal waste, as
well as packaging and other materials that might be recycled. The