Waste reduction: Innovating for sustainability at a production chemical distribution center
“ Chemical business leaders are at a juncture,” according to Deloitte’ s 2025 Chemical Industry Outlook,“ one where innovation may be required to improve operational efficiencies and enhance product performance while meeting new sustainability goals.” At Thermo Fisher Scientific, a supplier of research, production and custom chemicals, some of these goals are being tackled through a focused approach to waste management.
The company has committed to a target of achieving third-party zero-waste certification at 30 manufacturing and distribution sites by the end of 2025. The certifications are based on a Thermo Fisher methodology informed by global industry standards, where less than 10 % of non-hazardous waste is sent to landfills, incineration or waste-toenergy processes.
One of the certified facilities is its chemical warehouse and distribution centre in Durham, North Carolina. The Durham site distributes and manages production chemicals and services for biologics and pharmaceutical makers and other organisations that require cGMPcompliant chemicals. To achieve its zero-waste certification, the team at the Durham site, led by Todd Newsome, senior manager, environment, health and safety of Production Chemicals and Services at Thermo Fisher Scientific, came up with innovative approaches to transform wastereduction challenges into costefficient and more environmentally beneficial solutions.
Innovation in action
One of the solutions developed by Newsome and his team is repurposing the shrink wrap and banding that secure chemical shipments, which Newsome points out as environmentally problematic because these materials“ don’ t have a lot of weight, but take up a lot of room in landfills.” The shrink-wrap and banding are collected, and the team collaborates with vendors to recycle the material, which may be used to create other products, such as multi-use boards.
Another solution is the poly-pallet exchange program. Polypropylene pallets are essential to cGMP production because they help eliminate the introduction of pestbased contamination or dust. Through the program, the Durham facility redirects wooden pallets to customers who do not require cGMP-level contamination control. As a result, the site can reduce costs and waste by reusing its wooden pallets for those customers.“ We haven’ t purchased wooden pallets in several years,” adds Newsome.
The waste-reduction actions are not solely inspired by the Thermo Fisher team and its vendors; customers are another important driver.“ Many of our customers have accumulated supplies, equipment and materials— partly due to supply chain shortages associated with
the COVID-19 pandemic— and they request us to give them a quote for disposing of them,” Newsome explains.“ The easy thing to do would be to throw it in a dumpster. Instead, we’ re breaking down those materials into components that can be sourced for recycling.”
Next steps
Measures such as those executed by Newsome and his team have led to the Durham site’ s achievements in critical zero-waste certification criteria, including reusability, recycling and composting, landfill reduction and recovered resources— incorporating energy from waste, refuse-derived fuel and biomass.
Continuing efforts will involve pursuing best practices for clearly labeled and colour-coded recycling and waste bins, glass crushing to facilitate bottle recycling, scrap-metal chipping and designated staging areas for pallet reuse.“ It all adds up,” Newsome summarises.“ These practices help our customers, our company and the health and wellbeing of our planet.”
28 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981