Eco-Efficiency / Raw Materials Use

Efficient raw materials use has environmental and economic benefits. Baxter tracks the raw materials it uses in manufacturing, such as plastic resins, corrugated materials and chemicals. In 2011, the company enhanced its data-collection process for these items and gathered more comprehensive data from across its regions. As a result, data from past years are no longer comparable and the company only presents data from 2011 in the table below.

Major Materials Purchased for Manufacturing (Metric Tons)
Material*, **	2011
Plastics/Resins	82,500
Corrugated Materials	53,300
Dextrose	21,600
Sodium Chloride (salt)	17,700
Amino Acids	1,400
Pharmaceuticals (drugs)	51

*

Plastics/resins are used to make film for bags or accessory parts such as port tubes and over pouches and for solution sets in Baxter's Renal products. Corrugated materials are widely used in the manufacture of corrugated boxes and shipping containers used to package Baxter products. Dextrose is a simple sugar used to make solutions, which include Baxter's nutrition and intravenous (IV) products. Sodium chloride (salt) is mixed with other liquids for Baxter's parenteral solutions used for injection. Amino acids have many functions in metabolism, and act as the building blocks of proteins. At Baxter their application includes biotherapeutics, regenerative medicines and vaccines. Pharmaceuticals (drugs) are chemical substances intended for use in the medical diagnosis, cure, treatment or prevention of disease.

**

Does not include raw materials usage from Baxter’s BioScience business.

As the cost of many raw materials continues to rise, Baxter is implementing more aggressive materials-efficiency and waste-reduction efforts. For more information about how Baxter selects raw materials used in products, see Materials Use. Historically, the company has focused on scrap reduction and reuse through its Value Improvement Program. This initiative encourages manufacturing facilities to identify and implement cost-savings projects, often related to enhancing production efficiencies. The high cost of plastics increases Baxter's incentive to use it as efficiently as possible. In 2010, Baxter commenced a focused effort to reduce plastics scrap, its largest waste stream. See Waste for more details.

Many plastic processing sites regrind and reuse pre-consumer plastic scrap to save money and materials. While many Baxter container systems incorporate as much as 35% reground plastic from the manufacturing process, regulatory requirements prohibit Baxter from using post-consumer plastics in manufacturing. If plastic cannot be reused on-site, Baxter evaluates it for possible reuse at other locations. If that is not feasible, the company sends it off-site for recycling.

Packaging

As illustrated in the table above, corrugated materials used for product packaging represents one of Baxter's main uses of materials. The company continues to implement packaging reduction projects, with an emphasis on high-volume product lines. The type of materials used is another area of focus. The vast majority of the corrugated material Baxter uses contains 30-75% post-industrial and/or post-consumer recycled content.

Baxter continues to implement and track packaging reduction projects and communicates best practices across the organization. See Packaging for details about the company's initiatives and progress against its packaging reduction goal.