Local Efforts: Molsheim, France

Pallets waiting to be reused in Molsheim, France.

In the Alsace Region of France, our Molsheim campus (comprising approximately 368,000 square feet) houses R&D, Manufacturing, Sales and Administration functions. It also serves as our European headquarters and Business Center. Enjoy an on-line tour of the Molsheim campus to discover its research and production efforts and get to know the 1,000 women and men who work there.

Product Recycling

Our Molsheim facility is working with recycling vendors to determine ways to recycle plastic from two products, Steritest (used for verifying the sterility of solutions) and Aervent (used for sterilizing applications and removing particles and microorganisms from gases and solvents). We expect Millipore will save money through this process, since recycling these products would cost just 30-60 euros per ton, compared to 90 euros per ton for disposal. This could result in volumes of about two metric tons each month.

We’re also working to recycle our Durapore products, although due to the number of plastic types involved and the effort required for disassembly, the most effective method may be energy recovery. These efforts would also save money, reducing the cost per ton from 90 euros for disposal to 65-70 euros. Our ultimate goal is to recycle 50% of product waste at this site, complementing a wide range of existing recycling programs (see graphic).

Materials Recycled at Molsheim (metric tons)

Type of Waste	Total 2006	Jan-Jun 2007
Non hazardous Waste (not recycled)*	381.30	217.04
Paper and Cardboard	188.00	104.33
Wood Pallets	94.90	102.30
Plastic: Packaging	18.30	13.08
Plastic: PE molding waste	23.60	6.04
Plastic: PP molding waste	11.40	5.24
Plastic: Other molding waste	26.20	36.42
Metal	1.90	1.07
DCM (Dichlorometane or Methylene Chloride)	14.30	3.51
Printer Toner	0.60	0.31

* About 50 percent of this amount are products that Millipore is evaluating and ultimately will address through the initiatives described above.

See more information about our Waste and Recycling efforts companywide.

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