BMF members focus on sustainability in first quarter meeting
The NCLifeSci Biomanufacturing Forum held its first quarterly meeting of 2025 on March 18 with a focus on sustainability.
The meeting kicked off with drinks, dinner and a round of introductions. Attendees then heard updates from government relations consultant Joe Lanier, principal at Milestone Strategies, who provided insights into the state and federal legislative landscapes.
A key topic was the industry's sustainability efforts. Bill Monteith, BMF program manager, emphasized the importance of actionable items coming out of these meetings, highlighting infrastructure as an area of focus.
Jenae Williams, NCLifeSci workforce and partnerships director, introduced the BMF HR training team, which will work to implement actionable items from the meetings. She also updated attendees on NCBioImpact , a coalition of organizations dedicated to providing educational resources for the industry.
Presentations from industry partners followed.
- Allison Gubitz of the American Heart Association discussed the association’s efforts to create a "nation of lifesavers" through CPR training and engagement.
- John Balchunas of the National Institute for Innovation in Manufacturing Biopharmaceuticals highlighted NIIMBL and its upcoming conference in Durham.
- Melody Ray, owner of Raleigh Reclaimed, showcased her company's work in developing carbon-negative building materials, noting the growing interest from life sciences clients.
The highlight of the evening were presentations by Marguerite Murray, a sustainability expert and managing partner at Samasta Group, who shared insights on global and local sustainability trends, and David Auge, senior manager of environmental and compliance at Grifols Therapeutics, shared the company's approach to sustainability at its Clayton manufacturing site.
Murray emphasized the rising prominence of sustainability.
"Despite everything that's going on in terms of our political environment, there is like a sustained interest in in achieving sustainability improvements for our corporations and up through our supply chains."
She highlighted upcoming regulations, such as the EU's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, which will require companies to report on and pay fees for carbon emissions in traded goods.
"The regulatory drivers are real," Murray said.
Turning to the local context, Murray discussed Raleigh's rapid population growth, which has implications for resource management.
"There are a whole bunch of people drinking water, sending wastewater out, taking up land space, affecting stormwater flows," she said.
Murray shared case studies demonstrating practical sustainability initiatives. At a beverage manufacturer, simple process optimizations led to a 30% reduction in water use.
"In six weeks, we reduced the water use by 30%,” Murray said. “There was no impact to product. There was no impact to production."
At a pharmaceutical pilot plant, a solvent recovery program achieved a 40% decrease in solvent waste, eliminated disposal costs and improved circularity.
"The ultimate result was a 40% decrease in solvent waste. They eliminated the cost, the whole line-item cost for the about those solvents, so they stopped having to pay the waste disposal," Murray said.
Auge began his talk by highlighting the Grifols's recognition as the Steward of the Year in 2022 and 2024 through North Carolina's Environmental Stewardship Initiative program.
Emphasizing the tactical aspects of sustainability, Auge noted the site's significant scale, with 1,600 employees and the capability to produce 12 million liters of product annually.
"If you were ever in the military, that's about a regiment. It's about three battalions,” he said. “And you've got within that particular size of an organization a lot of people that are on your side, and those that could care less about what you're doing and those that are really enemies for your efforts when it comes to the word sustainability and anything to do with environmental compliance."
Community engagement was a key focus of Auge's presentation.
"We have the Girl Scouts and Scouting of America for help with our wildlife habitat area," he said. The site has also achieved zero waste to landfill validation and obtained green building certifications.
Auge closed by emphasizing the importance of employee involvement, showcasing initiatives like dumpster dives to demonstrate composting and recycling and environmental scorecards that give simple, clear directions for handling various sustainability issues as an employee.