Reducing Waste to Landfill

In 2011, all of our sites continued to work on reducing the amount of general (i.e., non-chemical) waste sent to landfill through improved employee awareness of recycling programs, better segregation of recoverable wastes and recycling of additional waste streams.

We saw an overall substantial increase in general waste diversion from landfill in 2011 compared with 2010. This achievement resulted in part from a comprehensive waste assessment completed at our South San Francisco facility, which produces over 80% of Genentech’s total general waste. This assessment involved the sampling of dumpster contents and showed that most of our waste can be recycled or composted if appropriate systems are in place. During 2011 we developed, and are now implementing, a plan to increase waste reuse, recycling and composting. By 2014, our SSF facility is targeting a 50% reduction in the amount of general waste sent to landfill compared to 2009.