Merck Sustainability Report 2021

Designing the future

In our Life Science business sector, we are continuously looking for new and creative ways to increase the sustain­ability of our products. We apply this eco-minded approach to our products’ entire life cycle – from manufacture and use to end-of-life.

Giant steps, small footprints

Every new product launch is a unique opportunity to demonstrate our progress and innovation in sustainability. With Design for Sustainability (DfS), we apply a sustainability lens and strict guidelines as we research, develop and engineer our products. This way, we minimize our customers’ environmental and health impacts while improving our product performance.

This approach is great for our business as well as for our customers in pharmaceutical research and manufacturing.

Alexandra Rosenfeld, Life Science, USA

impact areas of Design for sustainability

circular
economy

Design for sustainability

water

energy &
emissions

Design for sustainability

materials

packaging

Design for sustainability

usability &
innovation

suppliers &
manufacturing

Sustainable by nature

Through Design for Sustainability (DfS), we are enhancing the sustainability and quality of our Life Science products. Our DfS framework provides our developers with a range of tools that enable them to analyze the impacts of our products and create improvements in seven impact areas – take a look!

We integrate DfS during product development to offer greener solutions for customers.

Fabien Thibault, Life Science, France

How much do our Stericup® E products reduce packaging waste by?

36% 50% 69%

Compared to standard all-plastic filter devices, we use 69% less packaging! With no plastic funnels, they are also smaller, lighter and reduce CO2 emissions during transport.

Less weight, less waste

Our Design for Sustainability (DfS) program helps us create products with a significantly smaller environmental footprint. A great example of this innovation is the Stericup® E family, which is just one of our more than 1,400 greener alternative products.

Customers use Stericup® E and Steritop® E filters to reduce their plastic and packaging waste from cell cultures and reach their sustainability goals.

Yasmine Jibry, Life Science, UK

Contribution to our strategic goals 1 and 3

We want to create products that decrease the environmental footprint of our customers, including their greenhouse gas emissions.

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Contribution to SDG 12

Throughout the entire life cycle of our products, we use resources efficiently and reduce waste and emissions.

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