Materials and Waste

Each Lonza manufacturing site maintains a waste-disposal concept tailored to its waste streams for an efficient, environmentally sound treatment and disposal of wastes. All sites are dedicated to our waste reduction principles.

At some locations, e.g. Visp (CH), we operate our own waste and wastewater treatment. We carefully select our partners for waste transportation and treatment based on performance and capabilities in Environment, Health and Safety (EHS).

We ensure that the treatment and disposal of all our waste materials is conducted according to international standards and conforms to the local regulations. The system and performance of waste management at our manufacturing sites is subject to regular audits.

We are committed to increase input materials efficiency in our production processes, including whenever possible reworking out-of-specification production. We strive to reduce effluents by controlling and reducing water inputs. Locally, effluents are managed according to their quantities and parameters as permitted by the local authorities.

Additionally, the energy from on-site incineration of residues and waste gases, which we perform in Visp (CH),and Nansha (CN), is used for heat energy generation in order to conserve resources.

The waste intensity varies over the years, mainly due to the fact that construction waste was not separated from production waste before the year 2018. Construction and excavation activities contributed to the peaks observed in most recent years. After having refined the waste reporting guidelines, the company will report numbers for production-related waste streams.

Air emissions

Lonza applies state-of-the-art technology for air emission control. The focus is on greenhouse gas emissions (CO₂), and volatile organic compounds (VOC), as precursors to low atmospheric ozone. Other parameters monitored are nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and particulate matter.

Water emissions

Parameters monitored for water pollution are total organic carbon (TOC) or chemical oxygen demand (COD), heavy metals, nitrogen and phosphorus. Depending on the site-specific processes and production, local requirements may also include other relevant parameters. Organic substances in effluent waters are measured as total organic carbon (TOC) in metric tons C, or chemical oxygen demand (COD) in metric tons O2. Heavy metals are presented as metric tons of the sum of Arsenic( As), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Copper (Cu), Lead (Pb), Mercury (Hg), Nickel (Ni) and Zinc (Zn). The main source of heavy metals is the usage of metal-containing catalysts. The eutrophying nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P) containing compounds are measured in metric tons of N and metric tons of P, respectively.