BOEHRINGER INGELHEIM WORKS WITH SUPPLIERS TO END USE OF BIOMASS WASTE AS FERTILIZER

Boehringer Ingelheim, which joined the Alliance in 2019, has an antibiotics portfolio mainly focused on animal health. The pharmaceutical company engages closely with manufacturing suppliers of the active pharmaceutical ingredient used in its products.

Through its audit program, which is linked to the PSCI, the company has assessed and reduced the risk of increasing AMR through biomass waste management. One common practice that came under scrutiny was the sale of sludge containing antibiotic residues from waste treatment plants, by suppliers in China and other countries, for use as fertilizer.

Where it identifies such risks, Boehringer Ingelheim works with suppliers to develop safe alternative methods of waste disposal. As a result, one of its main manufacturing suppliers in China switched its sludge waste disposal method from fertilizer to incineration. This kills the antibiotic content while creating a material that can be uses in cement, paving, and roads, so retaining the waste’s economic value.