Nanotechnology Now - Press Release: "Millipore Corporation Introduces First Bioplastic Product: EcoStand™ tube holder part of larger sustainability commitment"

Home > Press > Millipore Corporation Introduces First Bioplastic Product: EcoStand™ tube holder part of larger sustainability commitment

Abstract:
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 Corporation Introduces First Bioplastic Product: EcoStand™ tube holder part of larger sustainability commitment

Billerica, MA | Posted on November 18th, 2008

"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.

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About Millipore Corporation
Millipore (NYSE: MIL) is a Life Science leader providing cutting-edge technologies, tools, and services for bioscience research and biopharmaceutical manufacturing. As a strategic partner, we collaborate with customers to confront the world’s challenging human health issues. From research to development to production, our scientific expertise and innovative solutions help customers tackle their most complex problems and achieve their goals. Millipore Corporation is an S&P 500 company with more than 6,000 employees in 47 countries worldwide.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain of the matters discussed herein, as well as in future oral and written statements by management of Millipore Corporation that are forward-looking statements, are based on current management expectations that involve substantial risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements.

Potential risks and uncertainties that could affect Millipore's future results include, without limitation, inability to develop profitably bioplastic and environmentally responsible products, failure to achieve design wins into our pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers’ manufacturing design phase for a particular drug; delay, suspension or termination of a customer’s volume production; fluctuations in the timing of customers’ orders; lack of availability of raw materials or component products on a timely basis; regulatory delay in the approval of new therapeutics; limitations on cash flow for operations and investment due to debt service obligations; the inability to establish and maintain necessary product and process quality levels; the inability to realize the expected benefits of development, marketing, licensing and other alliances; competitive factors such as new membrane or chromatography technology; risks relating to our concentration of principal manufacturing operations; the inability to successfully integrate acquired businesses; the inability to utilize technology in current or planned products due to overriding rights by third parties; potential environmental liabilities; conditions in the economy in general and in the bioscience and bioprocess markets in particular; foreign exchange fluctuations; reduced private and government research funding; exposure to product liability claims; and difficulties inherent in transferring or outsourcing of manufacturing operations. Please refer to our filings with the SEC, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, for more information on these and other risks that could cause actual results to differ.

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