Corporate Social Responsibility

Nature

Nature

Thermo Fisher is committed to safeguarding the world’s natural resources through the preservation of freshwater resources and effective waste management.

Water

Water is vital to life, and we aim to understand the risks associated with our impact on water scarcity and quality. Our commitment is to assess water usage for current water-intensive manufacturing facilities in water scarce areas by 2024. Our approach includes the following priorities:

 

  • Conducting annual water scarcity assessments to manage our evolving risks and impacts, and adapting as needed when water stressors shift
  • Ensuring that our wastewater discharges comply with applicable laws, regulations and internal standards, with an emphasis on active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)
  • Continuing to monitor our operational water use and the evolution of water frameworks and working groups, such as the Science Based Targets Network, to inform future target setting

 

Pharmaceuticals in the environment

We are actively working to eliminate the risk of adverse environmental impacts from wastewater discharge, with a specific focus on operations managing APIs. As mandated by regulatory requirements or determined by risk assessments, we require the collection and proper disposal of the first cleaning rinse of equipment used in the manufacturing or handling of APIs. This measure is taken to mitigate the release of known toxins and potent pharmaceuticals into the environment.

Waste

Our waste management approach leverages our PPI Business System, which fosters a continuous improvement mindset. We strive to achieve 30 certified zero-waste manufacturing and warehouse sites by 2025.

 

Our zero-waste program is informed by global industry standards including TRUE Certification and considers the waste hierarchy outlined by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the GHG emission potential of different disposal methods. This program initially focuses on reducing the use of natural resources in our operations, followed by shifting away from high-emission disposal methods. In 2023, we increased our certified zero-waste sites from 14 to 20, achieving a 56% non-hazardous waste diversion rate away from high-emission disposal methods.

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