Product Sustainability Review

The design stage offers a unique opportunity to shape a product's environmental, health and safety performance across the life cycle. During this phase, decisions are made regarding materials selection, components that impact energy use, other characteristics that influence carbon footprint, features that affect recyclability, and other factors.

For this reason, Baxter includes Product Sustainability Review (PSR) during the early stages of the product development process. PSR is a two-step assessment of a product’s projected environmental, health and safety impacts. An initial screen at the product development concept phase reveals high-level sustainability risks and opportunities in areas such as regulations and customer and other stakeholder requirements (see graphic).

The second step is a comprehensive review that identifies improvement opportunities across the life cycle. This process includes life cycle assessment-based computer modeling of a proposed product, and may involve comparison to existing products. Designers can use this assessment to inform material choices and evaluate product end-of-life options. Baxter uses these results to confirm product feasibility, help establish product requirements and minimize potential product impacts to human health and the environment.

PSR has historically focused on medical devices, ranging from intravenous solution containers to dialysis machines, reflecting the greater potential environmental impact of these compared to other Baxter products. Since 2005, Baxter has used PSR to evaluate all new medical devices reaching the concept stage of development, and currently has several devices under review. In 2010, the company intended to expand use of PSR into product development in its BioScience business. However, as a result of changes in the BioScience organization during the year, this initiative was rescheduled for 2011. When implemented, nearly all new products Baxter introduces will complete the PSR process.

PSR also provides a channel to integrate compliance considerations for existing and upcoming product regulations.¹ In 2008, Baxter enhanced the PSR screen for toxic chemicals. This will help the company meet growing customer demands and will also help Baxter prepare for potential chemical restrictions under the European Union REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemical substances) regulation. Product requirements regarding materials choices are adopted and formally acknowledged in the product design history file. See Case Study: Materials Restrictions for more information.

PSR has had positive results. Several reviews influenced materials selection, such as a requirement that new machines under development meet the European Union Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive restrictions regarding heavy metals. Even though the products are currently exempt, medical devices will fall under the scope of the revised RoHS Directive in 2014. Also, recent reviews stipulate that new product designs should avoid the use of "Substances of Very High Concern" as listed under REACH regulation.

PSR is also playing an important role in the ongoing development of a new dialysis device, which will meet RoHS Directive guidelines worldwide and will not contain chemicals from the REACH regulation list of "Substances of Very High Concern." Baxter is using the device to evaluate using IEC 60601-1-9, an international standard for environmentally conscious design.

Life Cycle Assessment

Supplementing PSR, Baxter also uses a formal life cycle assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental performance of its products. In 2009, Baxter completed several externally verified LCAs demonstrating the significant environmental benefits of FLEXBUMIN [Albumin (Human)] - the first and only human albumin² solution in a flexible, plastic container - compared to a similar product in a glass bottle. In addition to enhancing convenience for customers and users, the FLEXBUMIN container system has a 55-77% smaller carbon footprint, depending on product size and geography. (See Case Study: FLEXBUMIN Life Cycle Assessment for more detail).

In 2010, Baxter undertook a streamlined LCA that compared two generations of dialyzer products to evaluate how material changes affect environmental performance. Dialyzers are filters used during hemodialysis to eliminate waste products from the blood of people with end-stage kidney disease. The housing of Baxter’s new XENIUM+ dialyzer was converted from a more carbon-intensive plastic, polycarbonate, to a lower carbon-intensive plastic, polypropylene. Polypropylene has a 75% lower carbon footprint than polycarbonate.³ When compared to the previous generation dialyzers, XENIUM+ has significant environmental benefits. It is BPA-free, uses less resin during manufacturing, generates less biohazardous waste and uses less corrugated packaging.

More generally, Baxter is working with external LCA experts to update and revitalize the PSR process. Baxter plans to have outside stakeholders, including customers, review and provide input on the new process.

Emerging Customer Requirements

Customers in the United States and Europe increasingly require information related to product environmental performance in requests for proposal and consider that information in vendor selection. Baxter reflects these requirements in the PSR process – i.e., the need to avoid certain chemicals of concern.

Similarly, governments also increasingly set environmental criteria for "greener" public procurement. In the United Kingdom, the National Health Service requires that five percent of the information included in tenders describes the company's environmental performance.

Baxter anticipates that these trends will continue, and that responsiveness to these requirements will represent an increasing source of competitive advantage in the future.