Environment

Environmental management at Fresenius Medical Care

As a global player in the health care sector, our responsibility extends beyond our business operations. We monitor the environmental performance of our operations globally and aim to use resources efficiently. At the same time, we need to ensure that the safety and quality of our products and services is not compromised.

Our commitment to using natural resources efficiently is also part of the Environmental Policy. In this policy, we pledge to minimize the impact of our activities on the environment, comply with applicable laws and regulations and provide safe and healthy working conditions for all employees. Using natural resources efficiently, preventing environmental pollution, recycling waste efficiently, and enhancing our environmental performance are core elements of our efforts to continually improve our environmental management system.

Environmental Policy

PDF, 177.0 KB

We monitor environmental data from our clinics and manufacturing sites around the globe.

The below document “Environmental Data” provides an overview on water and energy consumption as well as greenhouse gas emissions.

Environmental Data

PDF, 90.2 KB

Reducing environmental impact along the product life cycle

At Fresenius Medical Care, innovations and new technologies help us to reduce our impact on the environment and the use of resources. Most of the water utilized by Fresenius Medical Care is needed to produce dialysate during life-saving dialysis treatment in our dialysis centers around the world. The amount of dialysate and consequently the amount of water required per dialysis treatment is determined by a variety of factors including the blood flow rate, the selected dialyzer and the treatment method, most of which are the direct responsibility of the physician. In our efforts to save resources, it is of utmost importance to Fresenius Medical Care that resource efficiency does not compromise the quality of care or product quality. With our latest machine generations, the 5008 and 6008 series, we have developed a dialysis machine that supports patient safety while being eco-friendly by automatically adjusting the dialysate flow to the effective blood flow. This allows us to save substantial amounts of dialysate, water and energy while maintaining a constant dialysis quality.

The six main components of the dialysis machine which are recycled or reused.

Ecologically sustainable dialysis products

We are continuously working to make our products and processes more environmentally friendly, for example by using new materials with improved environmental properties or developing new technologies that further reduce the resource consumption of our dialysis machines. The aim is to provide our customers with added value by helping them save on costs or fulfill environmental requirements better.

Recycling and repurposing of dialysis machines

Many parts of life-sustaining dialysis machines are reused and recycled. Dialysis machines are disassembled, allowing the recycling of various materials and components, including bulbs, plastics and circuit boards.

Recycling is one of the easiest ways to create a positive impact on our environment. Our dialysis machine recycling process helps with our mission to globally care for the well-being of our patients, our staff and our planet.

Environmental initiatives

To continuously improve our environmental performance, we are involved in local sustainability projects which we report as part of our global Green & Lean initiative.

Green and Lean initiatives enable best practices to be shared between plants with a view to using natural resources efficiently and implementing environmentally sustainable operations.

Major accomplishments of our green and lean initiatives

Energy

Reducing electricity usage by optimizing production and maintenance systems
Expanded coverage of photovoltaic solar panel cells
Implementation of energy-saving lighting, including LED lighting

Water

Implementation and optimization of reverse osmosis water recycling technology
Implementation of water recovery cooling towers and boiler condensate tanks
Production process scale-up, such as multipurpose production lines and increasing batch sizes, in order to save water used in production

Waste

Reduced amount of packaging material to save waste
Increased reuse frequency of cardboard and pallets for storage
Increased recycling instead of sending waste to the landfill

Reducing our environmental impact

Green and lean initiatives 2020

More than 170 environmental initiatives were reported at our manufacturing sites around the world.

19,300 MWh of energy saved,
0.8 % of total energy consumption

4,700 tons of CO₂e emissions prevented,
0.6 % of total emissions

420,000 m³ of water saved,
1 % of total water consumption

18,000 tons of waste saved, recycled or reused

All figures are rounded.
Data on total waste is currently not reported on a global level but in scope for future reporting.

Eco-friendly products made of Biofine®

The first environmentally friendly products were introduced in 1996 with the stay.safe® CAPD system made of 100% Biofine®. Many other PVC-free products followed since then.

Biofine® is a revolutionary material, a seven-layer polymer constructed from hydrogen and carbon atoms. That means it...

Based on all these qualities, Biofine® received wide recognition all over the world, including a valuable certification from the Nordic Ecolabel organization. Biofine® is used in the majority of Fresenius Medical Care’s products for peritoneal dialysis. The official recognition from the Nordic Ecolabel organization is therefore an award for Biofine® and for Fresenius Medical Care.