Greener Products and Solutions

MilliporeSigma, which manufactures chemicals and other lab supplies, lets customers return plastic foam coolers and chemical containers. MilliporeSigma has also worked to repurpose the more difficult-to-recycle plastic products used in science. After being sterilized, the plastics are turned into plastic lumber that can be used in decking, speed bumps, and park benches.

MilliporeSigma’s Cyrene is a solvent that the science and technology company says is safer, more sustainable, and can offer better performance than petroleum-derived products. Cyrene is manufactured in two steps from tree-derived waste cellulose through a process that is nearly energy neutral, and releases water to the environment, according to the company.

As part of our employee spotlight series, we’re sitting down with Jane Murray, global head of green chemistry at MilliporeSigma, to learn more about the work she’s doing to move the needle. The life science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany operates as MilliporeSigma in the U.S. and Canada.

My impatience has been a red thread through many of my experiences, specifically in a space that is chock-full of opportunity, like our Corporate Responsibility work at MilliporeSigma. This experience started years ago with a novel product now known at Cyrene™. One of my team members did the legwork to identify a novel solution that could be a potential replacement for two challenging but ubiquitous solvents. While these solvents are extremely common, they’re under increasing scrutiny from organizations like Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH).

This novel material was arrived upon through a collaboration with an Australian company named Circa and The University of York’s Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence (GCCE). It’s a great example of repurpos

In response to the need for solvents to meet stricter regulation requirements for employee safety and environmental sustainability, MilliporeSigma introduced Cyrene™—a sustainable dipolar aprotic solvent, produced in two steps from a renewable cellulose source. Learn more about how MilliporeSigma is taking giant steps toward smaller footprints.

See how we're changing the way the world looks at single-use waste with the Biopharma Recycling Program.

As part of our brand-new employee spotlight series, we’re sitting down with Fabien Thibault, global manager of product and packaging sustainability at MilliporeSigma — the Life Science business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany — to learn more about the work he’s doing to move the needle.

To help scientists, researchers and manufacturers reduce their environmental footprint, MilliporeSigma expanded its DOZN™ system — an industry-first quantitative green chemistry tool that evaluates the relative greenness of chemicals and chemical processes against the 12 Principles of Green Chemistry.

As part of MilliporeSigma’s commitment to reduce its environmental impact, the company has launched a new SMASH Packaging Plan — a four-year approach to drive improvement in the sustainability of its packaging. Through this initiative, MilliporeSigma is setting new standards and goals to shrink, secure, switch and save packaging while still meeting the required performance requirements and transit safety regulations.

Single-use plastic is on the rise in the life science industry—making it increasingly important to change the end-of-life scenario for products, which often end up in landfills or are incinerated. MilliporeSigma continues to tackle this issue through its unique, industry-first recycling programs operated in partnership with Triumvirate Environmental—taking big steps toward smaller footprints.