Sustainably treating and recovering industrial waste

As environmental sustainability has become a major focus for organisations across many industries, the pharmaceutical space is no exception. Responsible waste treatment has emerged as a key priority for pharma and biotech organisations, as it is integral to minimising each organisation’s environmental footprint while simultaneously reducing the industry’s collective environmental impact.

Sterling’s Cramlington, UK facility delivers innovative on-site waste treatment solutions to help our API development and manufacturing customers, as well as other third-party organisations, treat and dispose of waste in environmentally conscious ways. Read on to learn more about the key challenges associated with waste treatment and disposal, and how Sterling empowers customers to meet their environmental sustainability objectives.

As pharmaceutical and biotechnology organisations increasingly prioritise responsible waste treatment as a core element of their environmental sustainability strategies, there are several challenges they must overcome. Some of the most common challenges include:

As pharmaceutical manufacturers seek greener alternatives to waste incineration, biological treatment for disposal or recovery present more environmentally friendly options. However, organisations must also consider the less evident impacts of waste treatment, including emissions from vehicles transporting the waste to other facilities.

Waste treatment is a significant part of the cost associated with pharmaceutical manufacturing. Treating waste on-site brings costs associated with infrastructure and labour, while the costs of transporting waste for offsite treatment can quickly add up.

The pharmaceutical industry is held to especially high regulatory standards, which also apply to the waste it generates and the way it treats and discharges this waste. Waste treatment facilities must be regularly audited, and all equipment must be kept in good working order to avoid releasing contaminants into the environment.

While many pharmaceutical processes have well-defined waste streams, complex chemistry processes can generate new and equally complex waste mixtures. This necessitates thorough analysis to understand how to properly treat the waste, coupled with the specialised tools needed to carry out effective treatment.

Customers’ waste treated in our aerobic plant receives a D08 disposal code for biological treatment, and waste treated in our anaerobic digestion (AD) plant receives an R03 code for recovery. Our AD plant, which breaks down waste into biogas for energy, is the first of its kind in the UK and generates renewable energy to power the equivalent of 4,500 homes each year.

As the plants are located at our Cramlington manufacturing site, our API customers avoid the environmental impact of transporting waste for treatment.

Purpose-built to treat waste generated by our API manufacturing processes, our waste treatment facilities are licensed by the Environment Agency and are accredited to ISO 14001 and ISO 45001. In addition, we are a Control of Major Accident Hazards (COMAH) site, and our facility is regularly audited and monitored. Our customers can rest assured that all waste from their manufacturing processes is treated in the most appropriate and effective manner possible.

Strategically positioned next to our Cramlington manufacturing facility, our biological treatment plants reduce expenses related to waste transportation and treatment for our customers. We not only provide competitive rates, but also adaptable solutions tailored to the growing demands of our customers’ projects.

Sterling’s waste treatment plants are suited for hazardous and non-hazardous aqueous waste, and any waste we treat is first thoroughly evaluated in our on-site waste analysis laboratory. Our team analyses each compound for oxygen demand, biodegradability and toxicity. We have experience treating a variety of complex and hazardous waste types, and we offer greener alternatives to aqueous incineration for all samples that pass our analysis.

Also commercially available to treat the waste of third party organisations, our infrastructure can accommodate daily arrivals of up to 30 tankers and storage tank capacity totalling 2,000 tonnes.