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Merck
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SMASH Packaging

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Our Approach

In 2019, we created SMASH Packaging to address the challenging issue of driving improvement in the sustainability of our packaging for our 300,000+ diverse products while meeting safety, quality, and performance requirements. The first iteration of SMASH set shorter-term goals from 2019 to 2022. You can view our recent progress or download a copy of our 2022 Annual Update.

With over 100 packaging improvement projects driven by colleagues across the organization, SMASH has established the foundational principles of packaging sustainability and has contributed to important changes such as the annual reduction of 300+ metric tons of packaging or the development of greener coolers for our cold chain shipments. With SMASH Packaging 2.0 we strive to maximize our impact by driving more systematic and data-driven packaging sustainability improvements.

OUR 2030 GOALS

  • Reduce 10% of packaging weight per unit sales by 2030.
  • 100% of fiber packaging to be deforestation-free by 2030.
  • 100% of packaging to be designed following circular design principles by 2030.

These three goals will contribute to reducing our packaging greenhouse gas emissions to support our company's sustainability strategy.

OUR FOUR SMASH PILLARS

From consultation with internal and external packaging and sustainability experts, we identified four pillars with the greatest opportunity for improvement. We use these pillars, the four S’s --- SHRINK, SECURE, SWITCH, and SAVE --- to drive more sustainable packaging solutions.

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Shrink – Reduce Amount of Packaging

Our aim is to eliminate the use of packaging that is excessive in size or weight which unnecessarily consumes more resources, increases energy use and air emissions during transportation. Excess packaging is also undesirable for our customers since there are costs associated with the management and disposal of the packaging.

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Secure – Achieve Zero Deforestation

Deforestation is a significant source of global warming and is a threat to biodiversity. Our aim is to ensure that the wood and fiber-based packaging materials that we use do not contribute to deforestation.

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Switch – Improve Plastic Sustainability

Conventional plastic packaging has several sustainability issues associated with it. Our aim is to improve the sustainability of plastic materials used in packaging applications, including increasing the use of materials with lower environmental impacts and reducing the use of plastics produced with chemicals of concern.

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Save – Maximize Recycling

Our aim is to maximize the recycling of our packaging materials by eliminating the use of packaging materials that are not compatible with recycling and by providing our customers with recycling guidance for all our packaging materials.

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