Baxter International Inc. facilities worldwide participated in the company's first "Baxter World Environment Week" to promote earth-friendly activities and sustainable living in their local communities. Other noteworthy sustainability-related highlights focus on recognition from several organizations for regional and global sustainability efforts and grants through The Baxter International Foundation to improve access to healthcare worldwide.

Inaugural Baxter World Environment Week Initiative
Baxter employees in more than 70 facilities in 25 countries sponsored events that promote earth-friendly activities and sustainable living while encouraging employees to learn more about the many ways to support Baxter's commitment to creating a more sustainable world during the company’s first "Baxter World Environment Week." The global event, held the first week of June, corresponds with the United Nation's World Environment Day, and demonstrates the integration of sustainability into Baxter's culture and how the company's collective efforts can make a positive impact on local and global communities. More than 200 activities occurred worldwide, including:

• Beijing, China - distributed plant and flower seeds to employees and encouraged them to submit photos of growing plants;


• Cuernavaca, Mexico - organized a fair where employees learned about and could purchase household items that help save electricity, such as solar water heaters;


• Chicago, Illinois, United States - developed and planted a rain garden with students at a local elementary school;


• Mississauga, Canada - helped employees consider their environmental footprint and ways they could reduce, reuse and recycle waste; and


• Hoechstadt, Germany - created incentives for employees to use public transportation, bike, walk or carpool.

Prize for Innovation in Transport and Logistics along Global Supply Chain
The International Transport Forum (ITF), European Association for Forwarding Transport Logistics and Customs (CLECAT), and International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations (FIATA) chose Baxter as the overall winner of the joint ITF-CLECAT-FIATA Prize for Innovation in Transport and Logistics along the Global Supply Chain. Baxter received the recognition for its use of inland waterways rather than ground freight to transport goods among Lessines, Belgium, Antwerp, Belgium, and Rotterdam, Netherlands. Water transport saves 40 percent on freight costs and uses 80 percent less fuel since one ship can transport as much freight volume as 120 trucks. This initiative, along with efforts at other Baxter facilities, contributes to Baxter's progress in driving a green supply chain, reducing natural resource use and reducing Baxter's carbon footprint, which are three of the company's nine sustainability priorities.

2009 Australian Business Award for Environmental Sustainability
The Australian Business Awards recognized Baxter's local efforts in waste management and segregation with an Australian Business Award for Environmental Sustainability. Baxter's facilities in Australia have established processes to proactively manage waste and identify opportunities for elimination, reduction and recycling. These efforts during 2008 related to segregation and investigation of waste recycling opportunities lead to a 9.7 percent reduction of overall waste and an increase in recycling of 4 percent compared to 2007. Overall, 58 percent of waste produced on site in Australia was recycled in 2008. These efforts, combined with initiatives at other Baxter facilities to reduce waste, contribute toward Baxter's corporate sustainability priority of reducing natural resource use.

Recognition by Federation of Industries of São Paulo State
The Federation of Industries of São Paulo State recently recognized Baxter's energy conservation program in Brazil with an Environmental Award honorable mention for continued commitment to energy conservation practices. Among the initiatives in Brazil to conserve gas and electric energy is an innovative rooftop water evaporation system to cool the facility's roof. The system uses relatively clean process wastewater that would otherwise be discharged to the wastewater collection system. This saves a projected $25,000 per year in energy required for internal building cooling and reuses 5,000 cubic meters of water annually.

Sociéthica Recognizes Initiatives in France
Sociéthica, an independent strategic sustainability consultancy, recognized Baxter's sustainability initiatives in France with the Environment Award and a second place ranking in All Categories of Sustainable Development. Sociéthica evaluates companies based on several criteria including social, environment, governance and relationships with suppliers and customers. A jury of environment, human resources, corporate social responsibility and business management experts selected the winning companies.

Foundation Grants Increase Access to Healthcare
The Baxter International Foundation approved nine grants totaling more than $350,000 in the second quarter of 2009 to help fund programs that expand access to much-needed healthcare around the world. These programs range from mental health services and programs for children to an array of healthcare services for low-income and uninsured individuals. Recipient organizations include:

• Stiftung Mutterhilfe in Zurich, Switzerland, to conduct community outreach to increase psychological services for economically disadvantaged, at-risk expectant parents and those with very young children;


• Operation Access in southern Alameda County, Calif., to expand ophthalmologic services, donated surgeries, specialty care and diagnostic screenings to low-income, uninsured residents;


• University of North Carolina to help support the Community Health and Mobility Partnership in McDowell County, N.C., to assist elderly residents, many of whom live in rural areas with limited access to health services, improve balance and mobility to prevent falls and related injuries.

A full listing of The Baxter International Foundation grants can be found at www.baxter.com/grants.

About Baxter
Baxter's commitment to sustainability spans three decades. The company is included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and has been recognized by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors as one of the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World and by Corporate Responsibility Officer magazine as one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens. Baxter is a member of the Center for Corporate Citizenship at Boston College, the Business Environmental Leadership Council of the Pew Center on Global Climate Change, the Chicago Climate Exchange, the U.S. EPA's Climate Leaders and the Ethics & Compliance Officer Association. Baxter endorses the Ceres principles and is an organizational stakeholder of the Global Reporting Initiative.

Baxter International Inc. (NYSE: BAX), through its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures and markets products that save and sustain the lives of people with hemophilia, immune disorders, infectious diseases, kidney disease, trauma, and other chronic and acute medical conditions. As a global, diversified healthcare company, Baxter applies a unique combination of expertise in medical devices, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology to create products that advance patient care worldwide.

Baxter International Inc.

Baxter International Inc.

At Baxter, sustainability means creating lasting social, environmental and economic value by addressing the needs of the company’s wide-ranging stakeholder base. The company's sustainability efforts support Baxter's mission to apply innovative science in the development of products and therapies that save and sustain patients' lives.

More from Baxter International Inc.