Nov 19 2008
Millipore Corporation (NYSE:MIL), a life science leader providing technologies, tools and services for bioscience research and biopharmaceutical manufacturing, today unveiled its first biodegradable and compostable product, the EcoStand tube holder, made from environmentally responsible bio-based plastic resin.
"Millipore is proud to be leading the industry in developing products and packaging made from renewable resources," said Geoffrey Crouse, Vice President of Millipore's Life Science Strategic Business Unit in the Bioscience Division. "Our vision is to broaden our technical understanding of how we can use bioplastics and then scale up our product offering. We believe that providing bio-based products is not only meaningful to our customers, but important to the environment."
The EcoStand device is made from a corn-based plastic resin rather than from conventional petroleum-based plastic. It is fully biodegradable in active microbial environments, such as soil, home compost, industrial compost as well as fresh and salt water.
The effort to produce environmentally responsible products is part of Millipore's Global Sustainability Initiative launched earlier this year. It is an ambitious effort aimed at reducing the company's environmental impact and includes a commitment to cut its global carbon footprint by 20 percent over five years.
"The EcoStand device is just one product, but it is symbolic of a much larger effort within Millipore," said David Newman, Director of Sustainability at Millipore. "We are focused on reducing the company's consumption of non-renewable resources, eliminating waste and adopting behavioral changes that support long-term environmental sustainability. That initiative includes incorporating environmental design in our products, packaging and manufacturing. The EcoStand device represents that first step."
The EcoStand device was created by the Danvers, Massachusetts-based research and product development team in Millipore's Bioscience Division. That team is currently working on other product applications.