This pharmaceuticals facility produces sterile insulin products and is situated in a rural area outside the town of Clayton in North Carolina. Human insulin crystals and chemical stabilizers, in either liquid or powder form, are mixed with ultra-pure water for injection to produce an aqueous insulin solution. The total number of employees at year-end was 143.

Major impacts
Our main environmental impact relates to support processes designed to ensure the integrity of our insulin products. These processes include: production of water for injection, cleaning and sterilization of product components and manufacturing equipment, and maintenance of a sterile environment in our production areas. Major environmental impacts are our consumption of water and energy, and generation of hazardous waste.

Breaches of regulatory limit values
Repeated pH breaches have occurred throughout 1996, 1997, and the first quarter of 1998, but have since been virtually eliminated after the commissioning of a new waste water neutralization system during March. It has a capacity of 70,000 US gallons per day (265 m³). While we have incurred three excursions in the nine months since the system was commissioned, they are attributable to operating errors. We have addressed the causes of the errors through procedural changes and training.

Environmental focus
Clayton's present and near-term environmental focus is a reduction in water usage. Energy efficiency will also be an area of emphasis.

During 1998, two water reduction projects were completed. These included replacement of a flow-through cooling system with a closed-loop system and a water hardness study that provided a decrease in the cooling tower blowdown rate. These projects resulted in a 6% reduction in water use, in spite of the production increase by 50%. During 1999 we anticipate that these reductions will result in savings of 14,000 m³ of water and US$ 35,000.

Projects during 1999 include re-routing of reclaimed water for use in the cooling tower, elimination of unnecessary sanitation cycles when making water for injection, and reduction of water use during component rinse cycles. Future projects will further reduce water consumption, solid waste and energy consumption.