SOCIAL CIRCLE, Ga. — Takeda, a global biopharmaceutical company with a manufacturing site in Stanton Springs, unveiled its new Biomedical Waste Processing Facility on Thursday, the first of its kind that is on the same site as a plasma-derived therapies manufacturer.
The company’s research estimates that the new facility at the Takeda Covington Manufacturing Facility will divert over 400 metric tons (about 441 American tons) of waste from ending up in landfills this year. By 2030, the Covington site alone is estimated to be processing 2 million pounds of plastic per year.
Takeda executives say working to recycle biohazardous materials instead of sending them to landfills represents a step in their sustainability goals.
“This site is an excellent example of how we are working to address biomedical waste and is one demonstration of Takeda’s goal to be zero-waste-to-landfill at all major locations by 2030,” said Giles Platford, president of the Plasma-Derived Therapies Business Unit at Takeda.
John Eunice, deputy director of Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division, also spoke at the unveiling, congratulating Takeda on this sustainability milestone.
“These are the types of conversations that we’re having across the state, trying to figure out how can we reduce the amount of waste in the landfills,” Eunice said. “And y’all aren't just talking about it, you’re doing it. So I congratulate you for the efforts on that front.”
The building’s power is entirely electric, representing a $10 million investment by Takeda as they strive to meet environmental goals.
“The $10 million investment, you can’t minimize that, you can’t – it’s just really incredible, and just a few years ago that would’ve been unheard of, not just in Georgia, but probably anywhere,” Eunice said.
The 8,000-square-foot addition will allow Takeda to recycle plastic bottles and test tubes that were previously discarded in landfills. The machines – which the site has two of – can each sterilize and process up to 600 pounds of waste per hour. The shredded and sanitized plastic material can then be sent to regional recyclers and eventually turned into plastic wheels, pallets and other items.
When plasma donations arrive at the Covington Takeda site, they are stored in plastic bottles. The bottles, once emptied, cannot be washed and reused because they contained biohazardous materials.
In the past, the best option was to send the bottles off to a landfill. But the new Biomedical Waste Processing Facility makes the hazardous plastic reusable.
“Biomedical plasma waste is a challenge across the healthcare industry,” Platford said. “But this is especially true in plasma-derived therapies due to the complexity of the fractionation process.”
Plasma fractionation is a process that separates donated plasma into different components that can then be used to develop medicines. This is just one part of what takes place at the giant facility in Stanton Springs. Boasting 1.1 million square feet and employing 1,400 people, the Takeda Covington Manufacturing Facility is one of only eight like it in the world.
The Stanton Springs pharmaceutical site has undergone several changes in the past decade of its existence, but Takeda’s ownership and expansion of the facilities are the most recent.
The location was first announced by the governor in 2012 to be operated by Baxter, a similar medical company. Baxter later spun off the operations to a new company, called Baxalta. Next came Shire, and eventually, Takeda in 2019.
