Interface,
the world’s largest manufacturer of modular carpet for commercial and residential
applications, is frequently cited as an example of a manufacturer taking great
strides towards sustainability. Founder and Chairman Ray Anderson took a hard
look at the company’s environmental impacts and decided to start taking steps
toward long-term sustainability in the mid 1990s.
Mission
Zero™is the company’s commitment to completely eliminating its negative
impact on the environment by 2020. Anderson coined the term EcoMetrics™to
describe the measurement system Interface uses to track their progress. The
system was put in place in 1994, and it is designed to assess how much the
company takes in, in terms of materials and energy, compared to what comes
out, in the forms of products and waste.
Every facility the company owns tracks hundreds of metrics on a quarterly
basis. Some of the key indicators include energy and water use, waste output,
renewable energy generation, carbon emissions, and social investments through
philanthropy and volunteering.[1] This data is compiled each year on a company-wide
basis and published on Interface’s website.
One of the most striking examples of how successful their approach has been
is the amount of carpet they’ve diverted from landfills through recycling
and reuse. From 1995 to 2008, Interface has reused over 725 million pounds
of carpeting, thus diverting it from landfills. Other EcoMetrics show that
renewable energy sources supply 28% of the company’s energy use, and that
biobased or recycled sources supply 24% of their raw materials.[2] While this
example is from the floor covering industry, you can find examples of electrical
distributors and manufacturers that are taking innovative approaches to sustainability
in NAED’s Corporate
Sustainability case study series.
[1] http://www.interfaceglobal.com/Media-Center/Ecometrics.aspx
accessed August 3, 2009.
[2] http://www.interfaceglobal.com/getdoc/7e96b54e-ad49-4eff-9877-38a55df0396d/Global-EcoMetrics.aspx
accessed August 3, 2009.