Circular economy towards the future

 

According to the Organization for Co-operation and Economic Development (OECD), global consumption of materials such as biomass, fossil fuels, metals and minerals is expected to double in the next 40 years, while annual waste generation is projected to increase by 70 percent by 2050, as suggested by the World Bank. The fact that resources and land are becoming scarcer challenges every industry across the globe. Action for environmental sustainability is urgently needed now, and the Animal Health sector is no exception.

 

That is why Boehringer Ingelheim is committed to making a difference by embracing principles of circular economy. Through eco-design, for instance, the company is assessing its products in order to improve their environmental footprint while offering quality products to ensure the health of humans and animals.

 

Curious? Eco-design is the integration of environmental considerations into product design and development with the aim of reducing environmental impacts throughout a product’s life cycle. In other words, a process that takes into account environmental impacts from cradle to grave, from resource extraction until final disposal, improving it and enabling a “cradle to cradle” approach.

Adapting to new models

Why does that matter? There is a global understanding that environmental sustainability requires every industry, in every country, to shift from a linear economy to a circular economy. The former relates to the current take-make-waste industrial model. The latter, the circular model, aims to reduce products waste and environmental impacts while maintaining materials in use. It encourages a regenerative circle to avoid raw material extraction.

“More than a trend, eco-design is now a reality. It implies adopting a new holistic approach to our products from an environmental perspective. We want to identify innovative improvement opportunities. This is achieved by understanding what our environmental impacts are and reversing them through sustainable design,” explains Sarah Arias, Eco-design Manager at Boehringer Ingelheim.
 

In this sense, embracing eco-design methods to improve animal health products is fundamental. Our first successful eco-designed packaging was a poultry vaccine. By replacing glass vials in a PET box with innovative effervescent tablets packaged in a light-weight aluminum blister, a huge environmental saving was achieved. Across the entire packaging life cycle of the vaccine (production, transport, storage, and waste management), change was significant. The new packaging has 80 percent less impact on climate change, 70 percent less impact on resources depletion and a reduction of 70 percent on its water footprint.

Passionate about dogs and the global fight against rabies, she went beyond her medical abilities. She got engaged in the assessment of an oral rabies recombinant vaccine that protects raccoons and coyotes against rabies, thereby reducing the risk of exposure of humans and domestic animals to rabies. Who would have thought that a vet would get involved in discussions regarding logistics and materials? Not ever herself!
 
“Although the product has an excellent track record of safety and efficacy in certain species, like foxes, coyotes and raccoons, research showed that the way the current vaccine is packaged, in a plastic sachet bait coated with fishmeal, limits skunks and other small-mouthed wildlife animals from getting an adequate vaccine dose,” recalls Joanne. “I realized that packaging matters a lot. We want to offer our customers the best products, and today, our customers want more than that. Offering the best product means also saving resources and thinking of post-consumer waste. Our customers want these solutions.” 

“The training was absolutely new to me,” shares Meredith Moinet, Product Life Cycle Manager for the pet portfolio, who joined a session in Lyon. “Eco-design connects us in the pharmaceutical industry to big global discussions and brings important insights for the company from an operational point of view; it’s an opportunity to use new, sustainable metrics to assess how we are performing. In general, it’s the future, today!”