Below are case studies of Genentech's environmental commitment in action. Click on the links below to read examples of how we at Genentech are changing the way we affect the environment.
South Campus Green Design
Recycling at South San Francisco
Reducing Waste From Our Cafeterias
Employee Commuting in South San Francisco
Feasibility Study Into the Recovery and Re-Use of a Manufacturing By-Product
South Campus Green Design In our 2004 Corporate Environmental Performance Report, we outlined how green building design would become a key strategy in improving Genentech's energy efficiency while rapidly expanding the square footage of our operations. An example of how Genentech is executing this strategy can be seen in our South Campus project in South San Francisco.
Genentech is mapping its growth, with a potential planned development at its South San Francisco campus, with an emphasis on new research laboratories and office space. One element of this growth is a new South Campus, a planned eight-building, 780,000-square-foot complex. Two of the buildings have already been occupied and the remaining six will be ready for occupancy over the next two years.
Energy efficiency is always a strong consideration for Genentech when designing new buildings, but it has to be balanced against many other factors, such as the occupancy timing, capital cost and user needs.
For the South Campus, there was yet another consideration — Genentech would not own the buildings outright, but would instead lease the buildings from the current property owner.
This presented challenges to the design team, as two of the most important factors of a building's energy efficiency — orientation1, which affects solar exposure, and envelope2, which affects energy loss — were determined by the property owner. Another implication of leasing: Genentech would only have 12 years — the initial lease term — to recoup any investment in energy efficiency, instead of the usual 30 years for an owned building.
Nevertheless, the South Campus design team was determined to identify and implement the opportunities it could for energy efficiency, with a particular emphasis on the mechanical equipment. The HVAC systems are designed with efficient rooftop air conditioners, chiller plants and motors; water systems will be fitted with efficient pumps; and offices will use efficient lighting.
Consequently, the efficiency of these buildings will significantly surpass building code requirements for energy efficiency. Misha Anissimov, Genentech's lead mechanical engineer for this project, speaks on the positive impacts of the energy-efficient buildings "Taking green design beyond minimum code requirements is leadership and a necessary step toward corporate environmental sustainability. When the bar is raised, we all benefit."
Recycling at South San Francisco 2005 and 2006 were very successful years for improving recycling and pollution prevention at Genentech's South San Francisco facility.
In 2004, Genentech's Corporate Facilities Services department invested in upgrades to office and cafeteria recycling, including new bins, stronger partnerships among key departments, and a broad informational campaign to raise awareness among users. These efforts came to fruition in 2005, with a 15-fold increase in mixed paper recycling and a 53-fold increase in aluminum, glass and plastic recycling. Three new recycling streams were added — lab plastics, industrial scrap metal and cafeteria food waste. Industrial recycling streams such as wood pallets and cardboard grew as key departments made continual improvements to their business processes for capturing recyclables.
By the end of 2005, the facility had doubled its tonnage of recycled materials and pushed its diversion rate — the percentage of waste materials that are recycled instead of landfilled or incinerated — up from 23 percent to 31 percent.
The team continued to build on the success of 2005 and made even bigger strides during 2006. Corporate Facilities Services helped upgrade cafeteria recycling and found new waste streams to recycle. These included Tyvek suits, certain types of laboratory glass and compostables. We also built greater employee awareness, stronger partnerships with key departments, and better collection procedures.
By the end of 2006, the facility again doubled its tonnage of recycled materials — increasing the percentage of waste materials that are recycled instead of landfilled or incinerated — from 31 percent to 46 percent. Our South San Francisco and Vacaville facilities were both named as California WRAP (Waste Reduction Awards Program) winners for 2006.
Kevin Manalili, Genentech's South San Francisco Campus Services manager is very proud of the results the teams have achieved "Genentech is serious in its efforts to be green, recycling many different types of material and helping preserve our precious natural resources. These efforts also help save money, and that's good for our business. Through recycling wastes, we create jobs for local citizens, create resource markets for raw materials, and minimize our impact on the environment. For example, we reduce our burden on North American forests by not only purchasing recycled paper, but also providing recycled office paper to the marketplace for remanufacturing and sale to other consumers."
Reducing Waste From Our Cafeterias Doing the right thing for the environment is a priority at Genentech. We are pleased to tell you about a major program which was initiated by our Green Genes Team3 and piloted in our South San Francisco cafeterias in 2006.
The program involves the replacement of styrofoam and other plastic cafeteria disposables, such as plates, bowls, cutlery, cups, trays and packaging, with items made from renewable and 100 percent bio-degradable and compostable materials such as sugarcane, potato starch and soy oil. The program extends to disposables used in Genentech cafeterias, coffee stations and catering orders. These products provide a range of environmental benefits including a reduction in greenhouse gases produced, fossil fuel use associated with the manufacture of styrofoam and other plastic materials and diversion from landfill through the composting of waste items, which will generate fertilizer as a by-product.
Following the success of the pilot and the positive employee feedback received, the program is due for roll-out to all Genentech food service operations during 2007. Suzanne Roller of Employee Services, who is responsible for the program says "This is a great example of how Genentech is living its environmental values. As a result of this program, Genentech will divert almost 3 million styrofoam cups, equivalent to 54 tons, from landfill every year."
Employee Commuting in South San Francisco For several years running now, Genentech's innovative employee commuting program in South San Francisco has landed the facility on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Best Workplaces for Commuters™ list. The program puts the choice squarely in the hands of the commuters themselves by offering a flexible range of options, such as neighborhood vanpools, free shuttle buses to major transportation lines, and showers for those who prefer to bike to work. The company also arranges for extra shuttles during major on-campus events and in special situations such as emergency road closures.
But faced with the growing gridlock problem in the Bay Area and the imminent expansion of Genentech's main campus, the company felt that it had to do more. In 2005, Genentech undertook a thorough study of the transportation landscape: What was working well, and what wasn't? What new transportation challenges and opportunities were on the horizon? What were other transportation leaders doing?
The end result of the study was a comprehensive transportation master plan featuring such elements as optimized shuttle service, improved campus transportation amenities, and an innovative parking cash-out option that pays cash to employees who do not drive alone to work. The South San Francisco campus hopes to achieve a 30 percent mode shift4 over the next 10 years under this plan.
Implementation of the plan began in 2006 with a new pilot program called gRide Rewards. This program provides incentives for employees to travel to work without their cars by rewarding them $4 per day for each day that they use an alternative commute mode. With gRide Rewards, Genentech has led the way in becoming the first company with more than 10,000 employees to implement such a voluntary program. Participation in the program has been growing since its inception in November 2006. In the first month of the program, Genentech registered 1,300 employees and by the end of the third month it registered 1,800 employees — the future of the program looks positive. The program's simple design keeps employee engagement at a high level and it is a model that can easily be transferred to other businesses. For example, the program relies on the honor system and only asks that employees sign an Honor Pledge in order to claim their rewards. The program has also been joined with other innovative programs such as "Genenbus", a wi-fi equipped coach picking up employees in areas such as San Francisco and along the Interstate-80 highway corridor.
Genentech is also committed to using cleaner vehicles where practical. The company has begun replacing some of its on-campus shuttle buses with vehicles powered by compressed natural gas.
Feasibility Study Into the Recovery and Re-Use of a Manufacturing By-Product As part of its environmental stewardship activities, Genentech evaluates ways to minimize, eliminate or find beneficial uses for its wastes streams. During 2006 as part of a cooperative industry and university effort, Jerry Jones, a Genentech chemical engineer and the company EHS Director, worked with four students from San Jose State University's Chemical and Materials Engineering Department on a plant design and economic feasibility study to evaluate the potential reuse of a by-product from Genentech's manufacturing operations. The waste stream considered represents Genentech's single largest volume hazardous waste and is generated at all three of Genentech's manufacturing sites in California. The purpose of the project was to develop a plant design based on a conceptual process conceived by the Genentech engineer and to determine the economic feasibility of using the process to recover the hazardous constituent which has a use in the oil and gas industry.
The results of the preliminary engineering plant design and economic feasibility study indicated that recovery of this by-product would not be cost effective, even when taking credit for close to $500,000/year in cost savings from avoiding future disposal costs for the waste. The estimated capital cost for the recovery operation was in excess of $7 million.
However, other ongoing internal process improvement work has continued to investigate a substitute for the toxic salt that leads to generation of the hazardous waste and an alternate approach has been found that may be used for Genentech's future products.
1 Directional position of building layout, which affects exposure to weather and solar gain.
2 The external façade and roofing elements of a building structure. The construction of the envelope affects a building's energy performance with respect to daylighting, thermal insulation and air leakage.
3 The Green Genes Team is a grassroots, science-based effort that brings employees together based on shared values and common interests to find ways to minimize Genentech's environmental impact.
4 A switch from single-occupancy vehicle to other modes of travel such as carpool, vanpool or mass transit.