|
After climate change, water may be the world’s most pressing environmental challenge. Whether it’s the water we use in our facilities or the water people drink, Johnson & Johnson knows that clean water, and enough of it, is critical to health. |
After climate change, water may be the world’s most pressing environmental challenge. Whether it’s the water we use in our facilities or the water people drink, Johnson & Johnson knows that clean water, and enough of it, is critical to health.
From diminishing quality to droughts, many parts of the world are already experiencing water challenges.
In 2008, Johnson & Johnson used approximately 3 billion gallons of water—enough to fill 4,600 Olympic-sized swimming pools—in our manufacturing processes and our office facilities. In 2005, we set a Healthy Planet 2010 goal to reduce absolute water use by 10 percent from 2005–2010, and we are measuring our progress against this goal.
“Water is a critical natural resource, and we’re always mindful of ways to protect water quality and use water wisely,” says Brian Boyd, Vice President, Worldwide Environmental Health and Safety. “While conservation is front-of-mind, true stewardship requires a more comprehensive water-management strategy.”
WATER MANAGEMENT STRATEGY
The corporate environmental group provides business leaders with tools and best practices in water conservation so they can select approaches that will best reduce water use and costs. Each Johnson & Johnson facility is required to develop a water conservation plan and perform an assessment to identify ways to reduce water use. “Some places where we operate, like China and India, don’t have abundant water,” says Boyd.
Watch the video to see how we are also generating green power in Ireland.
DOING MORE WITH LESS
“Our biggest successes in reducing the use of water have come from two areas: projects aimed at controlling cooling at our sites in energy-efficient ways and process changes or improvements,” says Keith Wojciechowski, Senior Environmental Engineer. He shares an example: “Cilag AG, our pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Switzerland, reduced its water use 35 percent by reusing coolant, reducing Johnson & Johnson’s total water use by nearly 3.5 percent.” In another example, Wojciechowski said, an Ethicon facility found that by separating scrap needles returned with packaging for reuse, the amount of water used for sorting and cleaning was reduced.
We anticipate that further process improvements will drive continued progress toward the Healthy Planet 2010 water reduction goal, and additional efforts to reuse or recycle water could further reduce our water use. “Our challenge is to continue to reduce water consumption, even as production is increasing,” says Wojciechowski.
THE BIGGER WATER PICTURE
“With water we must continue to take a long-term view,” says Boyd. For example, we are actively working on the issue of pharmaceuticals in the environment (PIE). PIE is gaining attention, as trace amounts of pharmaceuticals have been found in water in the U.S. and Europe. The main source of PIE is excretion of medicines as a result of normal patient and consumer use. Substantial research indicates that it is unlikely the amounts found affect human health. However, there is some indication that aquatic organisms may be affected with long-term exposure.
Additional research is needed to properly evaluate the potential risks, and Johnson & Johnson is actively engaged on this issue. The company is funding a study underway with the National Science Foundation and several universities to look at cost-effective PIE treatment methods that governments can employ. “Where we can, we change our behaviors, and where the issue is broader than we can solve, we get involved with others to understand the best possible long-term approaches,” says Boyd.
Evaluating the potential risks of PIE is a complex undertaking. In the meantime, Johnson & Johnson is taking steps to minimize or eliminate sources of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) from our wastewater discharges. Periodic wastewater monitoring is conducted to evaluate predicted concentrations and to identify potential toxicity to anything that lives in water. Further, we develop safe levels —known as Predicted No Effect Concentrations, or PNECs—for our APIs. At the end of 2008, most of our operating companies that use APIs had characterized their wastewater effluents; this information is being used to devise a comprehensive risk-management strategy.
To Learn More:
2008 Sustainability Report
Protecting The Environment
Our Health Planet 2010 Goals
Our Environmental Performance
Our Environmental Partnerships
Our Environmental Efforts Around The World
Generating Green Power
Greener Boxes, Bottles and Buildings
View this and other Johnson & Johnson videos on YouTube®
