Waste management

Bristol Myers Squibb is committed to providing the highest quality products and ensuring product integrity, while also minimizing our environmental footprint. We take a comprehensive approach to ensuring sustainable product quality and integrity, which means that environmental stewardship is embedded throughout our organization – from the work we do to develop cutting-edge medicines and our commitment to green and sustainable science to our packaging innovations and waste minimization initiatives.

While we work hard to develop sustainable packaging and minimize our packaging footprint, our priority is the safety, efficacy and integrity of the product inside. We strictly adhere to regulatory requirements around pharmaceutical product quality and safety, including packaging specifications and requirements. Within this operating environment, we are proud of the progress we have made across our environmental commitments, including our goal of zero waste-to-landfill by 2040. We are well on track to meet this goal.

We have also implemented meaningful waste reduction strategies across our labs as well as packaging and transportation efficiencies, which are contributing to decreased waste and emissions. In addition, we have implemented a number of programs across the BMS enterprise to drive waste reduction. These initiatives include: 

• Food waste diversion:  Composting and anaerobic digestion of organic/food waste
• Food donations with our cafeteria partner Sodexho
• Oscar AI Sort– a waste sorting tool and guide used in six BMS cafeteria sites. The tool helps identify the proper waste stream (food/organic, recycling, true waste) to improve sorting and non-contamination of waste/recycle streams.
• My Green Lab program: Encouraging scientists to consider waste and environmental sustainability in their day-to-day operations
• Green office checklist: Educating and empowering our office-based employees around actions that will decrease waste production
• Lab plastics and single-use plastics recycling/reuse programs: Partnering with suppliers who provide these options and empowering our scientists to leverage them
• Pollution prevention/waste minimization project to identify new opportunities to reduce waste generation
• Internal Go Green team educating on and partnering internally and externally to socialize and elevate waste reduction and diversion programs
• Green by design approach which integrates sustainability principles into our product lifecycle

Environmental stewardship is embedded throughout our business and our commitments reflect our approach to protecting human and natural resources, now and in the future.

Hazardous waste

BMS continually assesses our hazardous waste management program for material reuse and waste reduction opportunities in parallel with disposal options. We work with our external waste management partners to identify new waste disposal technologies and our internal business teams to decrease hazardous material needed in operations. New hazardous waste opportunities and material reduction reviews through our Pollution prevention and waste minimization programs are continuously monitored for material and waste generation reductions.