Franklin Lakes’ BD plans to heighten its focus on sustainability with the creation of the Sustainable Medical Technology Institute, announced April 22, which will bring together the company’s researchers and engineers to focus on reducing the environmental impact of its product portfolio.

BD plans to arm personnel with quality, regulatory, policy and operational expertise to eventually adopt sustainable product design strategies, develop and deploy sustainable sterilization technologies, and address materials of concern.

“As part of our ESG strategy, we made commitments in specific areas where we see the most opportunity for BD to create meaningful, measurable change over the next decade,” said Maureen Mazurek, vice president, sustainability and environmental health and safety at BD. “In order to achieve these commitments, we established a set of goals to track and measure our success, and this includes how to reduce the environmental impact of our product portfolio and address our customers’ sustainability needs. These priorities led us to form the Sustainable Medical Technology Institute.”

The Institute will operate in North America, Europe and Asia. Key initial efforts include reestablishing a set of minimum environmental and human health criteria for new products and product changes aligned with the company’s 2030+ ESG ( Environmental, Social, and Governance) commitments and goals, and identifying new ways to reduce, reuse, recycle or replace materials, the company said.

Dr. Amit Limaye, director of the Sustainable Medical Technology Institute and director of sustainability research and development at BD, said, “By empowering our teams to tap into deep expertise in areas like engineering and materials science, coupled with access to breakthrough research, technologies, and government and academic partnerships, we are well-positioned to be the best environmental stewards of our portfolio. It is our vision to create a strategic roadmap that will be integral across the organization, demonstrating how an ethical and sustainable company can drive growth, while meeting patient and customer needs in the most environmentally sustainable way possible.”

The Institute’s efforts will inform BD’s product life cycle roadmap and enable adoption of a sustainable-by-design product development process, according to the company.