EMD Millipore: Advancing Product Stewardship
Stephane Mabic, EMD Millipore
In line with its commitment to environmental sustainability, EMD Millipore Lab Water has made important advances in product stewardship. These advances include developing water purification technologies that decrease energy and water consumption, reducing packaging and documentation for our products, and most recently, creating the new ech2o™ program, a collection and recycling structure for Lab Water purification cartridges. This presentation will highlight these developments, using an EMD Millipore Milli-Q® Integral ultrapure water purification system as a basis for discussion.
At the heart of the Milli-Q Integral system, integrated Elix® electrodeionization technology helps ensure consistently high water quality thanks to ion-selective membranes and ion-exchange resin that is permanently regenerated by a low electric current. A recent study comparing Elix technology to distillation showed that, over a one-year period, the Elix system was significantly more sustainable than a still, with considerable decreases in energy, water consumption, and global warming effects.
In addition, EMD Millipore customers can now benefit from the new ech2o Collection & Recycling Program, which provides U.S. users with an easy, efficient way to recycle their Lab Water purification cartridges. The program joins other EMD Millipore sustainability initiatives already in place, including ongoing efforts to limit waste by reducing product packaging. New packaging design has made it possible to cut back on the amount of cardboard used to ship products, resulting in less waste for the company and its customers, as well as reduced carbon dioxide. Similarly, the company has redesigned its product documentation for greater sustainability.