Accessibility Statement

Waste


2030 Waste Goals and Our Progress to Date

In 2021, we established new waste goals to reduce landfill waste, address plastic waste from our operations and support integration of sustainability into the designs of our products.

Zero waste to landfill from routine operations

In 2022, 15 out of Lilly’s 28 facilities achieved the zero-landfill target, resulting in 1.7% of our waste from routine operations being sent to landfill. This was an increase from 2021, which was driven by an operational issue on one of our internal waste management processes and an outage at one of the external waste-to-energy facilities that Lilly utilizes. We do not anticipate these issues to impact our long-term goal performance.

100% of plastic waste repurposed for beneficial use, with at least 90% recycled or reused

In 2022, Lilly estimates that we were able to repurpose 98.0% of plastic waste for beneficial use (reuse/recycle/waste-to-energy), primarily driven by recycling of plastics from our manufacturing processes and incoming packaging material. This is a slight increase over 97.7% repurposing in 2021. Of this plastic waste, 89.6% was recycled or reused, bringing us close to our 90% goal.

Integrating sustainability-focused design principles into product and packaging design processes

We continue to build on efforts to incorporate sustainability into the lifecycle of our products, delivery devices and packaging with waste reduction in mind. We strive to develop products that are inclusive, trustworthy and sustainable. Learn more about our approach to integrating sustainability into our product and packaging designs.



Plastic Waste Reduction Efforts

We are focused on minimizing our plastic waste footprint. To do this, we reduce the generation of plastic waste where possible, identify where recycled plastic materials are suitable for use in our processes and maximize the reuse and recycling of plastic waste. When reduction, reuse and recycling are not viable, we send plastic waste to a facility that converts waste into energy.

In 2021, Lilly began developing processes for measuring and reporting plastic waste. We use both quantitative and qualitative measurement systems. These systems allow us to estimate our current progress relative to our plastic waste goals, and we strive to improve these measurement systems over time.

As noted above, we estimated we were able to repurpose 98.0% of our plastic waste for beneficial use (reuse/recycle/waste to energy) in 2022, primarily driven by recycling of plastics from our manufacturing processes and incoming packaging material. Of our total plastic waste, approximately 89.6% was recycled or reused. While these numbers are close to our established plastic waste goals, we anticipate that it will take significant efforts – such as new technologies and innovative external capacity -- to achieve 100% beneficial use and at least 90% reused or recycled.

As part of our commitment to continually improve our environmental impact, we optimize plastic use at our manufacturing facility in Indianapolis through a reuse and recycling program. As part of this program, approximately 3,000 metric tonnes of packaging from incoming materials are sent to our recycling partner annually. The diverted plastics are used as feedstocks for other products such as composite decking, furniture and carpet padding.

At our headquarters in Indianapolis, Indiana we have eliminated nearly all polystyrene foam materials from our cafeterias and transitioned to biobased to-go containers and other more environmentally friendly materials. At our facilities in Europe, our food service providers have focused on elimination of single-use plastics for items such as cutlery, plates, drink accessories (stirrers and straws) and take-away bags.

Integrating Sustainability into Our Product and Packaging Design Processes

To support our 2030 waste goals, we continue to build on efforts to incorporate sustainability into the lifecycle of our products, delivery devices and packaging, with waste reduction in mind. Our goal is to integrate sustainability-focused design principles into future product and packaging design processes, while identifying and evaluating opportunities to enhance our current portfolio. We aspire to develop products that are inclusive, trustworthy and sustainable.

Inclusive

Inclusive icon

We strive to design intuitive experiences that are inclusive of the unique capabilities and changing conditions of people around the world and that meet their diverse abilities and needs.

Trustworthy

Trustworthy Icon

We demonstrate care and compassion for people and aim to create devices and packaging that are consistent, reliable and easy to learn and use across all touchpoints.

Sustainable

Sustainable Icon

We strive to design our therapies, devices, packaging and experiences for longevity and minimal environmental impact.

We aim to make our products more sustainable without sacrificing safety, user experience, or patient outcomes. We strive to position our products at the top of our “reduce, reuse, recycle” waste hierarchy, and design for recyclability while also minimizing medical waste and electronic waste. We are investing to research and identify renewable/bio-based materials to make our future packaging and devices more sustainable and exploring collaborations and partnerships with our key materials suppliers to evaluate the feasibility for improving the sustainability of existing devices.

Lilly has developed a Design for Sustainability Guidebook to support design of our next generation of delivery devices to meet Lilly’s environmental goals. The guidebook is utilized internally to provide insights into sustainability approaches in the areas of device and secondary packaging design, materials and recycling. It aims to increase knowledge in this space and explores best practices when designing our devices and packaging in a regulated environment.

For Lilly’s existing drug delivery devices, we focus on the selection of materials and waste reduction and recyclability strategies to improve sustainability. We strive to incorporate additional sustainable design elements into future platforms.

Waste Reduction hierarchy


Sustainability Roadmap

Current Initiatives
  • Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) – We have advanced our understanding of the carbon footprint for our Trulicity device by conducting a thorough lifecycle analysis of the device. In 2022, we completed the lifecycle analysis for Trulicity (without the drug product) that included the entire device, secondary packaging, our manufacturing supply chain and other relevant aspects. The lifecycle analysis was conducted in accordance with ISO 14040, which is a recognized international standard for assessment of the environmental aspects of a product or service in its entire lifecycle. The lifecycle analysis identified key opportunities for reducing our carbon footprint in the areas of device materials, secondary packaging, transportation and manufacturing. We are evaluating these focus areas based on prioritization and impact to the environment, without jeopardizing the supply of medicine to our patients.

  • Device Molding Evaluations (Proof of Concept) – We have begun to identify renewable materials that could be used as alternatives to existing fossil derived plastic materials used in our devices. In 2022, we completed about 90% of the proof-of-concept (PoC) trials to make plastic components using renewable materials. Additionally, we continue to investigate energy efficient ways of molding the plastics used in our devices with the goal of minimizing energy consumption.

  • Packaging Improvements – We strive to optimize the size of our product packaging. We have also developed alternatives for packaging used throughout our manufacturing processes, from in-process to final packaging, which allows for reuse or recycling and improves efficiency as we transport products globally. In addition, we are working to better inform our patients about recyclability or appropriate disposal of our products' packaging materials.

  • Working with Third-Party Suppliers – We are engaging with our key suppliers of device and packaging components to better evaluate alternate low-carbon material and recycling options to minimize waste.


Long-Term Initiatives
  • Next-Generation Delivery Devices – For our next generation of devices, we strive to apply learnings from our lifecycle analysis studies to better design and develop future devices with lower environmental impact. Our recently developed Design for Sustainability Guidebook aims to help our internal device teams improve designs and develop more environmentally friendly devices. We are continuing to advance our efforts in this area and aspire to develop durable, reusable devices that help minimize medical and electronic waste.

  • Packaging Optimization – We are working to reduce packaging and transition to eco-friendly materials where possible. Additionally, the pharmaceutical industry has begun to evaluate the potential to move, as the default, to electronic patient information leaflets instead of printed materials. We recognize there are many aspects to consider, such as regulatory requirements, patient preference and access to technology. However, we are committed to working with stakeholders to assess and understand opportunities to reduce waste through technology advancements and digitization.

  • Take-Back and Recycling – We are exploring new ways to address end-of-lifecycle product waste. We have initiated pilot programs for device take-back and recycling processes, however, these solutions are not yet available in all geographies or at large scale. Learn more about our Product Stewardship efforts.

We consider many sustainability factors in selecting product packaging, including material use and recyclability. Pharmaceutical packaging must meet stringent regulatory and internal standards. In some cases, this prevents us from using recycled content, as is the case with container closure systems that come into direct contact with our products. We continually seek to improve packaging design to reduce the amount of packaging used, use lower-impact materials and ensure recyclability.

  • Pulp-based Clinical Trial Packaging Change – Our efforts to improve the environmental impact of our packaging goes beyond our commercial products and extends to potential future products currently undergoing clinical trials. Our clinical trial organization has begun to implement pulp-based solutions for device packaging. We are one of the very early adopters to use this pulp packaging option that, like plastics, can be injection molded into a variety of shapes. Use of this eco-friendly packaging option has resulted in a 15% reduction in the size of drug delivery device packaging cartons compared to the original. This reduction in size also translates to shipping and transportation savings.

  • Tempo Smart Button Packaging, US Refill Kit Design – The refill kit is a packaging case comprised of various components the patient needs for use of the Tempo system. During packaging development, the design optimization process led to a reduction in the overall size of the packaging (i.e., length and width), which resulted in less waste generation and approximately 25% less warehouse storage space utilization.

Lilly continues to leverage technology to evolve our business and minimize our environmental footprint, including transitioning to digital media for promotional materials. Since 2018, our U.S. affiliate has reduced the use of printed promotional materials by almost 50% by shifting to digital channels. We’ve also improved our inventory management, such as reducing the number of low-use printed materials and better controlling print quantities, which ultimately reduces paper waste.

Visit our Product Stewardship page to learn more about our approach to sustainability throughout product life-cycles.


Waste Performance Data

Total Waste Generation (1)
2019
2020
2021
2022
Total Waste Generation (metric tonnes)
 2019:
140,000
 2020:
130,000
 2021:
118,000
 2022:
123,000
Non-Hazardous Waste (metric tonnes)
 2019:
120,000
 2020:
110,000
 2021:
98,000
 2022:
101,000
Hazardous Waste Generation (metric tonnes)
 2019:
19,000
 2020:
20,000
 2021:
20,000
 2022:
22,000
Total Waste Disposition (1)
2019
2020
2021
2022
Beneficial Use (includes recycled, reused and waste-to-energy)
 2019:
130,000
 2020:
120,000
 2021:
108,000
 2022:
111,000
Treated (includes combustion without energy recovery) (metric tonnes)
 2019:
7,000
 2020:
7,300
 2021:
7,100
 2022:
8,000
Landfilled (metric tonnes)
 2019:
5,000
 2020:
2,700
 2021:
2,300
 2022:
4,000
Waste Metrics for Goals (1)
2019
2020
2021
2022
Waste Generated from Routine Operations (metric tonnes)
 2019:
Not previously reported
 2020:
Not previously reported
 2021:
107,000
 2022:
110,600
Waste to Landfill (metric tonnes)
 2019:
Not previously reported
 2020:
Not previously reported
 2021:
600
 2022:
1,900
Plastic Waste from Routine Operations (metric tonnes)
 2019:
Not previously reported
 2020:
Not previously reported
 2021:
8,600
 2022:
12,000
Plastic Waste Repurposed for Beneficial Use (includes recycled, reused and waste-to-energy) (metric tonnes)
 2019:
Not previously reported
 2020:
Not previously reported
 2021:
8,400
 2022:
11,800
Plastic Waste Recycled or Reused (metric tonnes)
 2019:
Not previously reported
 2020:
Not previously reported
 2021:
7,600
 2022:
10,800
Waste Goal Performance (2)
2030
2022 Performance
Percent of Waste from Routine Operations Sent to Landfill3
 2030:
Zero (less than 0.5%)
 2022 Performance:
1.7%
Percent of Routine Plastic Waste Repurposed for Beneficial Use
 2030:
100%
 2022 Performance:
98.0%
Percent of Routine Plastic Waste Recycled or Reused
 2030:
Greater than or equal to 90%
 2022 Performance:
89.6%
Integrate Sustainability-Focused Design Principles into Our Products and Packaging
 2030:
N/A
 2022 Performance:
On Track

Footnotes

Note: Some segments do not add up to totals due to rounding.

Note: Bureau Veritas was engaged by Eli Lilly and Company to provide limited assurance in relation to specified 2022 environmental performance data presented.

  1. Total waste includes all waste generated from Lilly facilities, routine waste and non-routine waste. Non-routine waste is defined in footnote 2.

  2. Waste goals exclude waste from the following categories: non-routine construction and demolition debris (e.g., building construction or demolition); uncontaminated soil, rock, concrete, bricks, etc., used for clean fill; waste generated as a result of remediation of surface or underground areas (e.g., soil, rock, water and personal protective equipment); vegetation (e.g., landscaping debris), wastewater that is conveyed offsite through piping (i.e., not shipped offsite in container or tanker) for treatment or discharge; and biosolids or other residue from wastewater or stormwater collection and treatment.

  3. For the purpose of our landfill goal, “zero landfill” is defined as elimination, reuse, incineration, reclamation or recycling to the point that routine waste as generated will no longer be placed in a landfill. A site may achieve “zero landfill” status if less than 0.5% of its generated routine waste is sent directly to landfill. Lilly will meet “zero landfill” status if less than 0.5% of Lilly’s routine waste as generated is sent directly to landfill.

View Lilly’s environmental data from 2020, including our previous goals and progress through 2020. Additional historical data are available in our reporting archives.

Explore our Environmental Goals and Progress

See important information about our ESG report.