Taking action to reduce plastic waste in Japan

More Green

By using creativity and persistence, the packaging department team at Yamagata, Japan, managed to reduce their waste plastic material by 11 percent, making them an inspiration for all sites globally. And it all started with one small idea.

Boehringer Ingelheim’s Yamagata site – 400 kilometers north of Tokyo – is surrounded by beautiful nature. On her daily drive to work, Yuko Goto, who works in the Yamagata packaging department, sees both the snow-covered Mount Gassan on the horizon and the many cherry fields that the Yamagata prefecture is famous for. “I feel very close to nature here,” says Yuko, “I am happy to live and work in such a beautiful environment.”

In the packaging department, Yuko and her colleagues guarantee a steady supply of 45 different Boehringer Ingelheim products for customers and patients in Japan. Yamagata started bulk exports to regional markets like Australia and New Zealand in 2023, and Yuko’s team is also responsible for packing for export. Packaging medicines in an automatic process creates scrap waste when the margin of the plastic film is cut away. The Yamagata site currently produces 2 billion tablets a year – a process that leads to 16 tons of plastic waste material.

“I have two children, and it is important to me to pass on a better future to the
next generation”

Yuko Goto, Worker at the Yamagata Packaging Department

Working close to the production line, the amount of scrap waste produced became evident to Yuko – and something she decided to change. In 2021, she submitted a proposal to re-evaluate the established production process to reduce material loss and to improve packaging efficiency. “It was just sad to see all the material scrap waste, so we had to act,” Yuko explains. At Yamagata, employees are encouraged to submit their own ideas for small “quick-win” projects. This approach, called “Kaizen”, has led to a continuous flow of proposals for improvement. “I have two children, and it is important to me to pass on a better future to the next generation,” Yuko shares.

To further reduce the Yamagata site’s environmental footprint, a new environmentally friendly energy center was installed in 2023. This system replaces conventional heavy oil, thus enabling efficient power generation and is expected to reduce the sites annual CO₂ emissions by up to 21 percent.

Using our resources in a sustainable way

The approach in Japan is true for all of us at Boehringer and a great example of what we aim for. Our Leitbild states that “we feel responsible for our communities and are respectful of our resources”. Boehringer will always strive to be better: develop better therapies, enable better healthcare solutions, and contribute to a better world for future generations. This includes protecting natural resources and reducing waste. The world’s natural resources are not endless. To use them sustainably, the amount extracted needs to reflect the resources’ capacity to recuperate and regrow.

“Our societies are currently using more resources than we have,” says Anthony Matheri, Senior Manager Circular Economy at Boehringer. “According to the Global Footprint Network, by May countries like Germany or Japan have used more resources than one earth can sustainably support.“ Boehringer is aiming to do its part to reduce the global over-usage of resources. Through the global MORE GREEN program and by applying a holistic approach, we are working to reduce our environmental footprint, including in areas such as carbon emissions, energy, water, and waste.

“By bringing together our global community, we can help and inspire each other.”

Dr. Anthony Matheri,
Senior Manager Circular Economy at Boehringer Ingelheim

Circular Economy helps us to keep resources in a loop

The concept of circularity – one component of which is waste reduction – promotes moving away from a linear business model of take-make-dispose. Instead, the approach encourages a circular business model that “closes the loop”. This means keeping resources in a “circular loop” where material is recycled and reused for as long as possible, or where the use of raw material is reduced altogether. “One way that we are increasing circularity within our operations is through eco-design and green chemistry,” Anthony explains, adding “This means challenging the status quo and considering product sustainability throughout the product life cycle of the end-to-end value chain.”

That was a key learning for the Japanese team. The machine manufacturer claimed that it was impossible to change established processes. But the team did not want to give up. So instead, they started innovating on their own and found a way to reduce material loss and to improve the packaging efficiency of three blister machines. They successfully reduced the scraps for the plastic film connection by half. This resulted in a waste reduction of 100 meters of film per process order.

By re-evaluating their processes, the Yamagata team managed to shorten the width of plastic film by 2 mm, leading to another reduction of 1.8 tons of waste. This also meant the scrap waste was reduced by 11 percent.

The team managed to reduce

11 %

of scrap waste through the re-evaluation of processes

“There were many challenges, but in the end, we found a way to reduce the width of the plastic film and optimize the packaging material,” Yuko says with a smile on her face. In addition to the waste reduction, the weight reduction of the packaging materials has led to unexpected benefits. For example, logistics have become more efficient and employee safety has increased, since less volume means less weight that workers need to handle when transferring goods.

Plastic pollution – tiny particles with a long-lasting impact

Plastic pollution poses a critical challenge within circularity. Plastic is not biodegradable, i.e. instead of decomposing, the material breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces. These so called micro- or nano-plastics have a devastating effect on the world’s health. They enter waterways and oceans, negatively impacting the health of both humans and animals. Boehringer is working on sustainable optimization solutions for these issues in line with the work of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Their joint goal: A healthier future for humans, animals and the environment.

Reducing plastic waste further

This project, which started as one small idea, has now snowballed to create new projects which reduce plastic waste even further. The Yamagata site is also currently consulting with the machine manufacturer to see how they can collaborate to reduce packaging scrap waste even further – or altogether. In addition, since the blister machine manufacturer has the highest market share in Japan, our initiative opens up the possibility for many other clients to implement changes as well, thus benefiting not just Boehringer, but society as a whole.

So how can a project that reduces plastic film by 2 millimeters in Japan help us decrease our environmental impact globally? “No one can be an expert in all areas,” Anthony points out, “but by bringing together our global community, we can help and inspire each other.” Key to this is building systems of knowledge exchange between different cross-functional teams around the world. In this way, we are sharing the experiences gained from local circularity projects and using them to initiate and scale up similar projects at other sites.

Anthony summarizes: “The waste reduction project in Japan has the potential to not only increase the circularity of Boehringer’s operations locally, but also inspire many more similar waste reduction projects at Boehringer sites around the globe.”

Every kilo helps, and everyone can contribute when it comes to waste reduction. “Small things can make a huge difference”, Yuko agrees and tells us about how the project has given her the confidence that she can do more for the future. “I questioned what I took for granted and realized the importance of breaking down stereotypes and continuing to challenge myself. To contribute to a big change, I learned to find small opportunities and take action.”

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