Waste Disposal

Modifying our manufacturing processes to eliminate waste streams and developing viable programs to recycle are part of our environmental agenda.

Both safety and environmental impacts are considerations when we think about the many chemicals we use in our operations. In 2010 Life Technologies reduced hazardous waste by 23%.

There are several benefits of hazardous waste reduction: we reduce waste volume, transport and incineration are minimized, and carbon emissions from incineration decrease.

 Highlights include:

• In Frederick, Maryland, engineers achieved significant waste reduction as they faced a global shortage of acetonitrile, a solvent used in oligonucleotide manufacturing, which normally represents 50–75 percent  of the solvents consumed by DNA manufacturing. In a systematic analysis of the protocols used for the high-throughput DNA synthesis, every step that used acetonitrile was tested to see if a lower amount could be used without affecting product quality. The project resulted in a reduction of acetonitrile usage for most syntheses by over 20 percent, substantially reducing the hazardous waste generation for the site.
• At our Bedford, Massachusetts site, substantial wastewater was generated during solvent washes and water rinses. According to site metrics, 100,000 gallons of aqueous hazardous waste were generated in 2008. In 2009, the team set a goal of reducing aqueous hazardous waste by 25 percent. The team analyzed the waste to determine if more water could be diverted from the aqueous waste tank to the wastewater treatment system. The results revealed that 32 percent of the waste sent to the aqueous waste tank was clean enough to be sent to the wastewater treatment system. The findings will save an estimated $50,000 annually and result in less frequent hazardous waste shipments, reduced fuel consumption, and fewer CO2 emissions.

View our hazardous waste performance.