Atlanta, GA, September 2--The story is now familiar to many; the “spear in the chest” epiphany Ray Anderson experienced when he first read Paul Hawken’s “The Ecology of Commerce,” seeking inspiration for a speech to an Interface task force on the company’s environmental vision.
Ten years and a sea change later, Interface, Inc. celebrates its progress on a journey towards a vision that no one would have imagined for the company, or the petroleum-intensive
industry of carpet manufacturing which has been forever changed by Anderson’s vision.
“The vision is not just to change our company and eliminate our environmental footprint, but through the power of our influence on others to become restorative,” said Ray Anderson, founder and chairman of Interface, Inc. “In nine years, at the end of 2003, we had progressed about one-third of the way from where we started in 1994, toward our goal of zero footprint—what we call the top of Mount Sustainability."
Over the last decade, carbon intensity has been reduced to one third of its original level, greenhouse gases are down 46% on an absolute scale, the number of smokestacks has been reduced by 33%, the number of effluent pipes reduced by 47%, and water usage is down 78% per yard of carpet tile and 40% per yard of broadloom.
"This reduced footprint is embodied in every product we produce," Anderson continued. "As we perform life cycle assessments on our products, we are moving toward evaluating our manufacturing facilities on the basis of the cumulative impact of all the products a facility produces; and we are doing this worldwide.”
Anderson looks to the future: “The remaining two-thirds of Mount Sustainability is twice as high as the one-third we have traversed."
Looking ahead to the next ten years at Interface, the goal is for waste to be halved again, energy to be further reduced in relative terms by half again,
and half the remaining energy to come from renewable sources (photovoltaics, wind, biomass). Also, if the plan is successful, the number of smokestacks and effluent pipes remaining will be halved, and half of all materials will be post consumer recycled, including a portion from nylon 6,6,
