Jean-Paul Interview

Jean-Paul Mangeolle

President, Bioprocess Division

What does sustainability mean to you personally?

In a nutshell, as a famous French writer said, it means that you don’t get the planet from your parents, you borrow it from your kids. We have a responsibility to leave the earth as good as we find it. We have to be able to discover ways to keep doing what we’re doing, without using as many resources as we are, or we’ll run out.

Why does sustainability matter to Millipore?

If you look into the future – not 10 years ahead but a century – the companies that respect the environment will prevail. Environmental stewardship will become a competitive advantage: employees will want it and customers will want it. Resources prices will continue to increase, as there is finite supply.

What are the biggest challenges and opportunities the company faces in this area?

We sell plastic, tons of plastic that is not being reused or recycled. This creates a lot of waste, and that is our biggest challenge. Although we may always need plastic in our business, we can improve our recycling programs and minimize less critical uses such as packaging.

How does sustainability create business value?

Jean-Paul and his 2007 Toyota Prius in front of Millipore's Bioprocess Technology Center in Billerica, MA

In the long-term – and it’s already beginning today – sustainability will be critical in selecting suppliers. Customers will look as much into factors such as how much waste you create as they look into your price.

If you use more resources, your costs will increase. If you can maintain resource use, you’re costs may stay flat and you’ll be more competitive. Look at the example of the car industry in California. Low emission vehicles have a clear advantage because the state has implemented requirements that only those vehicles can match.

We’re starting to see customers coming to us and challenging us to find solutions to use less plastic. If we could provide customers a more complete package in this area, including product recycling, we would have a competitive advantage right now.

Why is this topic important to Millipore’s customers?

They have their own sustainability problems, and are starting to do what Millipore is starting to do. Customers increasingly need to act in this area and we need to be part of the solution.

What are Millipore’s other key sustainability issues?

In addition to plastics use and waste, energy consumption is another major issue, especially since we're a manufacturing organization. We need to minimize the energy we consume and also investigate alternative energy sources. We're already upgrading our company automotive fleet to shift to more energy efficient vehicles. This decreases our environmental impact while saving the company money.

Metrics

Sustainability Highlights

News

» More