Product stewardship
The products we sell to our customers often form an important part of the end product supplied to an end-user. For example, we supply catalytic unit components to vehicle manufacturers. The catalyst is incorporated into the catalytic converter in the exhaust system of a vehicle which is bought and driven by the end user. We do not manufacture the car, but we see our responsibility for the catalyst component continuing until the end of its life, and beyond, e.g. to recovery of components for subsequent re-use. This ‘whole-life’ responsibility is how JM demonstrates product stewardship.
The nature of the complex chemistry in our products and manufacturing processes means that we sometimes have to use chemicals that are potentially hazardous due to their physicochemical, toxicological and ecotoxicological properties.
JM’s product stewardship processes, and our commitment to Responsible Care®, a global initiative of the chemical industry, are central to ensuring our products are fully compliant with applicable regulations and should not pose any risk to humans or the environment when used responsibly and as intended. We make conscious choices about the substances we use and manufacture, and we continuously work to identify opportunities to further improve the safety and sustainability of our product portfolio through, for example, evaluating if more hazardous components can be substituted with technically equivalent but safer chemistries.
Product safety and compliance
We maintain a database of environmental, health, safety and regulatory data for all of our substances and products. This underpins our programmes to maintain compliance with applicable global chemicals regulations (e.g. TSCA in the United States, REACH and REACH-like regulations in the EU, UK, Turkey, South Korea and China) as well as the provision of hazard communication to our customers in the form of safety data sheets and product labels in the required language(s) for the country of supply. In the event of an incident with a JM product, a 24-hour global emergency response telephone service is in place to provide safety information in the local language. In 2024/25, this emergency service was used once, with advice on clean-up for a small, contained, spill of a JM product being quickly provided.
Hazard assessment and data generation
In the early phases of new product and process introduction projects novel materials are often handled and used in small amounts (grams to low kilograms) and are therefore out of scope for most regulatory notification obligations. This means that there is no legal requirement to develop extensive toxicology datasets, however, to keep our staff and local environments as safe as possible, our in-house toxicologists and product stewards will perform tiered hazard assessments to identify any potential environmental and health concerns. These hazard assessments will be revisited in an iterative process as volumes being manufactured and handled increase. Hazard communication documentation and downstream risk assessments will also be refreshed.
Through the use of literature reviews, supplemented with computer-based predictive toxicity tools that consider structural chemistry and support grouping/read across strategies, we are able to build an initial picture of the potential hazards. If required, we will develop an intelligent testing strategy to fill gaps in our knowledge, with a mind to also meeting regulatory information requirements that might apply to the product if commercialised. The first tier of the testing strategy selects from a battery of in vitro tests, driven by consideration of, for example, the physicochemical properties of the material; the potential exposure routes and proposed end-uses and; hazards exhibited by similar materials pertinent for a specific type of chemistry.
Where a new or existing product is foreseen to reach tonnages relevant for registration, for example, under EU-REACH, the applicable regulation will mandate certain information requirements to be filled. Often, the regulations will require data from animal tests to support the chemical safety assessment. JM is committed to only using animal testing where it is legally required and where no alternative means to fill these information requirements is available. Our position statement on animal testing is available here. Where possible, JM avoids generating new data using in vivo (animal-based) studies through commissioning new approach methods (NAMs) in addition to the traditional in vitro and in silico methods referenced above. For example, we collaborated with SenzaGen to systematically evaluate the applicability domain of their GARD® technology platforms to metal relevant to JM, to support identification of potential skin and respiratory sensitisers. JM is also an active member of multiple international consortia, trade associations and expert committees where testing data is shared between companies, leading to mutual benefits for all companies involved, and increased advocacy for the safe use of chemicals worldwide and acceptance of NAMs.
Regulatory compliance with global chemical control legislation
Compliance with applicable chemical control legislation is critical to our license to operate and a non-negotiable. Global REACH and regulatory affairs professionals, in our central Product Stewardship function, manage registrations of all necessary substances in jurisdictions such as the EU, UK, China, South Korea, Turkey, and react to relevant evaluations or proposals for restriction, authorisation or other risk management measures. We engage with regulators and public consultations directly or through REACH consortia and trade associations, where necessary.
The Product Stewardship team also actively tracks developing regulatory regimes, for example, in India, Ukraine and Latin America to ensure potential impacts across our portfolio are understood early and commercial teams are well-informed.
Portfolio stewardship
We seek to replace chemicals and products with significant potential, if poorly managed, to harm human health or the environment – where safer and economic alternatives are available. When replacement is not possible, and through detailed risk assessment backed by extensive data packages, we ensure robust risk management measures are identified and in place in our operations and communicated to customers. We also work actively with other companies to provide regulators with the best available information on industry practice such that any regulatory restrictions can be properly evidence-based.
Our innovation and product stewardship standards emphasise the need to investigate whether safer alternatives are available and to prioritise their evaluation. Potential new products are assessed at an early stage of their development against safety, regulatory and sustainability criteria, with higher hazard chemistries being subjected to more detailed risk assessments before progressing.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
We are aware of the increasing levels of concern over potential risks posed by a subset of PFAS entering the environment. JM is a downstream user of PFAS and has a very limited number of products that use PFAS, specifically fluoropolymers, and industrial equipment in our manufacturing sites will also contain fluoropolymers in, for example, seals and gaskets. We are committed to reducing our uses, developing alternatives, better understanding and limiting impacts on human health and the environment from PFAS in our operations and products.
Biotechnology in JM
We continue to invest in growing our biocatalyst and chiral product-offering and manufacturing capabilities, within our Life Sciences Technology business. Biocatalysts deliver sustainability and safety benefits to traditional catalysts, such as requiring less energy intensive reaction conditions and reduced need for organic solvents. Our biocatalysts and chiral alcohols and amines are manufactured using genetically modified microorganisms. None of these products contain live organisms at the point of supply to our customers.
Please see our sustainability performance databook for more information.
Go back
Return to the sustainability page for an overview of our framework and goals.
