Waste and packaging

Management of the material topic (GRI 3-3)

For Galenica, the proper handling of medical and chemical waste as well as packaging material is crucial. The company focuses on waste management, i.e. the declaration (toxic/non-toxic), collection, sorting, disposal and recycling of waste. In the downstream business, packaging materials are selected in compliance with the principles of the circular economy, unless covered by regulatory requirements.

Proper disposal of returned medicines

The pharmacies and logistics companies in the Galenica Group take back and properly dispose of expired or unused medicines. In pharmacies, this is done in accordance with internal quality management processes. The pharmacist performs an initial disposal triage of the returned drugs and sorts the products according to specific criteria. They focus particularly on critical ingredients (such as heavy metals, solvents, narcotics or highly active substances), but also on the special characteristics of the dosage form (such as gas pressure vessels). After this pre-selection process, the drugs are disposed of properly at a conventional incineration plant or in a specially designed high-temperature furnace. The disposal of controlled substances such as narcotics must be documented by the pharmacists and reported to Swissmedic. The GDP guidelines, which Alloga, UFD, Pharmapool and Galexis have signed up to, also provide instructions on how to handle returns. The actual disposal of expired and unused medicines is organised centrally by external service providers, depending on cantonal guidelines. An exception is Medifilm, which is the only Galenica company with approval for hazardous waste disposal.

For safety reasons, medicines returned by consumers are disposed of without exception – even if they have not yet expired and/or the packaging is still intact. Controlled disposal prevents people or animals from coming into contact with potentially hazardous pharmaceutical waste, for example through torn rubbish bags at the roadside or from contamination.

Pharmacies therefore make a valuable contribution to the environmentally friendly and controlled disposal of hazardous waste. In addition, our pharmacies provide only biodegradable plastic bags to their customers. The Wholesale & Logistics unit makes continuous efforts to find additional ways of reducing waste. One of the most important measures in this regard is the use of reusable packaging for the delivery of goods; 94% of deliveries are already made in reusable storage containers in a circular process. The remaining 6% is delivered in recyclable cardboard packaging.

Optimisation of packaging

At Galexis, various initiatives contribute to the optimisation of packaging. This has made it possible to increase the filling level of the delivery containers by 12% by the end of 2024. As a result, fewer containers are being shipped and the transport mass is reduced. Within the scope of the Efficiency priority, a pilot test was carried out in which a printed delivery note was not included in the delivery and a digitally accessible version was made available to the customers instead. This pilot met with a high level of acceptance and will be pursued further in 2025. Due to the planned roll-out of the new SAP operating system at the Lausanne-Ecublens distribution centre, accompanying documents (known as “requisition orders”) will no longer be issued from March 2025. This eliminates the need for the corresponding amounts of paper that had previously been included with each container. Furthermore, the process initiated in 2023 with a key supplier to use recyclable packaging instead of cardboard packaging was successfully rolled out at Galexis in Lausanne-Ecublens in 2024.

When shipping goods from the online shops to customers, recyclable packaging material is used wherever possible. And within the Group, such as between Galexis and pharmacies, process improvements are also continuously being worked on to reduce product returns. As a result, returns were reduced by more than 18% in the reporting year. This reduces the transport volume as well as the cost and amount of waste of highly refined products produced when processing the returned goods.

Environmental Code of Conduct

The Environmental Code of Conduct contains guidelines on waste separation for all employees who work in the office. In addition, new employees receive a leaflet on waste management and recycling when they join the Group.

Objective waste and packaging

The previous environmental target “We will reduce our municipal waste by 50% by 2025” was dropped in 2024. The decision was made as municipal waste is of little significance in Galenica’s overall waste balance sheet. Due to the high level of fragmentation across the different sales locations with their local waste regimes at the municipal level, a central management approach seemed unlikely to be successful with regard to the original goal.

Evaluation of the management approach and measures

• Key figures: Key environmental figures relating to waste are collected at least once a year.
• Quality management: Compliance with quality management processes is monitored on an ongoing basis.

Waste generated and directed to disposal (GRI 306-3, 306-5)

With the inclusion of Padma data, all companies of the Galenica Group are included as of 2024.

Almost half of waste is recycled

In 2024, the total weight of waste for the Galenica Group was 3,579 tonnes, a decrease of 2.0%. The weight of waste per full-time equivalent decreased from 0.62 t/FTE in the previous year to 0.58 t/FTE. 87% of total waste was harmless (mainly general waste, cardboard, paper and plastics), with the remaining 13% classified as hazardous waste (mainly medicines). 42% of waste was recycled, 45% was destroyed at waste incineration plants and 13% at a specialist facility for hazardous waste.