Aenova, global leading development service provider and contract manufacturer for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, is expanding environmental certifications. At the end of 2021, the Aenova site in Kirchberg (SG, Switzerland) successfully passed the ISO14001:2015 certification, documenting its comprehensive environmental management.

The Aenova Group's production site for soft gelatin capsules in Kirchberg, Switzerland (Swiss Caps AG, Member of the Aenova Group) has been practicing an effective management system for many years to reduce the impact of the plant on the environment. Especially because of the plant's specialization in highly active pharmaceutical products, effective environmental management is of great importance. In order to further improve this environmental management system and to demonstrate the performance to employees, the community, the authorities and last but not least to customers, a certification according to the ISO14001:2015 standard was sought.

In an audit lasting almost a week at the end of 2021, the inspectors were able to demonstrate the complete functionality and conformity of the comprehensive environmental management system at Aenova in Kirchberg. This led to the official award of the ISO14001:2015 certificate at the end of 2021. "The production steps in the pharmaceutical industry are energy-intensive. With our environmental management system, we can now control even better that natural resources are conserved," explains Jochen Niethammer, Head of Technical Affairs and responsible for the ISO certification.

The certification underscores Aenova's efforts to continuously improve the defined environmental performance targets. For example, Aenova's Kirchberg site has now switched its electricity supply completely to "green" hydropower and plans to install a large photovoltaic system before the end of 2022. Among other things, this will supply electricity to newly installed charging stations for electric cars and thus further motivate the workforce to use e-mobility.

"The Aenova site in Kirchberg has many years of expertise in the development and production of soft gelatin capsules, especially of highly potent active pharmaceutical ingredients for sometimes vital medicines. We are aware of this responsibility to patients worldwide on a daily basis. By obtaining the ISO environmental certificate, we are also demonstrating an ongoing development of our responsibility in environmental issues," says Dr. Christian Luftensteiner, Managing Director at the Aenova site in Kirchberg.