2. The inventor of carpet tiles
$1 billion USD
3500 employees
6 factories globally
47 showrooms
Who is Interface?
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3.
4. Our Journey …..
•88% reduction in waste sent to landfill since 1996 per unit of production
• Water intake in manufacturing is down 84% since 1996 per unit of production
• Total energy use down by 47% since 1996 per unit of production
• Non-renewable energy is down by 64% since 1996 per unit of production
• Absolute reduction of Interface GHG emissions by 32% from baseline
• 31% of global energy is from renewable sources
• 44% of total raw materials are recycled or bio-based materials
• 99% of the products sold in Europe were manufactured in Europe
5. The 2 paradigm shift
OLD
• Corporate
sustainability
• The Beauty contest
• Awards, labels,
CSR reports,
certifications
• Zero company
impacts
NEW
• Product
sustainability
• Embedded
• LCA performance
• kg co2/m2
• Zero product life
cycle impacts
RADICAL
• Systems
sustainability
• Services redesign
• Close loop systems
radical materials
• Zeroing others
by cannibalising
8. Sustainability at Interface
Go Beyond is our answer to
many demands. It provides a
menu of our most
sustainable products and
services, which combined,
gives the best environmental
performance.
Go Beyond consist of:
ReEntry – our take back scheme which
means ZERO waste to landfill
Cool Carpet – ZEROing out carbon
emissions by offsetting the carbon
associated with the lifecycle of our
products
TacTiles – an innovative glue-free way
to install flooring, cutting VOCs and
waste
Biosfera – our most sustainable
product to date – carpet made from 100
% recycled nylon yarn
Fotosfera – our first product using bio-
based nylon, derived from castor bean
plants.
9. Which stage has the biggest Environmental impact
Interface Manufacturing
Use and Maintenance
Raw Materials
End of Life (waste)
Interface Transportation
10. Life Cycle Analysis
First step to zero out product impacts
LCA. Sustainable Innovation Starts with Data.
12. Sustainability
What can we do
to zero out the
impact of yarn?
Reduce the
amount of
yarn used
Use more
recycled yarn
in the
composition
Invent a
new yarn
13. Insert background Image here
Sustainability
13.2% of total
EMEAI sales
in 2011 are
Microtuft products
Less is more
50% less yarn
14. Biosfera I
100% recycled yarn
= zero virgin
Today more than 368
shades of colours
contain 100%
recycled nylon.
19. Many carpet tiles are replaced
even though they still have
some life left in them.
We work with social enterprises
and recycling organisations
across Europe to find new home
for used tiles.
Modularity at the core of the
system is key to achieve
Mission Zero.
ReUse
24. 24
Single benefit claims.
Narrowly correct, misleading
in the big picture.
Marketing is about strong
simple claims
So, do you just look for a label?
25. Some findings from ”Sins of Greenwashing report 2010”
(Source: Terra Choice, http://sinsofgreenwashing.org)
28. Third party verified and
based on a thorough
LCA in line with ISO
14040 standards.
EPDs enable customers
to compare products’
ingredients, energy and
material resource
consumption and
environmental impacts.
We aim to have an EPD
for all our products.
Engaging in full transparency
through EPDs
29. Summary
• Product not Corporate
• Yarn…single biggest environmental impact
• Recycled not Recyclable
• Services… beyond just product
• Transparency not Greenwash
In 1994 Our Chairman and Founder, Ray Anderson, set us on the path to Mission Zero, that was to have no negative impact on the environment. As a Company we were naïve enough to think we could achieve mission zero, and we went for it! And that’s the key… we need to think beyond what current wisdom and technology can achieve and know that we will be able to achieve much more. Ray’s vision has literally transformed the company’s philosophy and business model . Encouraging us to re-think all of their actions, developments and innovations .
So, Truly embedding Sustainability is about zeroing your products Sustainable innovation starts with data LCA is the key tool for Sustainability It is very simple you must understand what are your impacts, where are the major impacts and then try to reduce the impacts… This is the LCA for a typical carpet tile... You can see that the majority of the impact lies within the raw materials, almost 70%. Most of the things you see in this room will be the same... So why the hell do we talk about corp sustainability.... with only 9%. So you have to manage and handle all the impacts across all the portfolio that a company sells, rather than trying to make a company more sustainable. Now other things such as a car or washing machine will see most of the impact in the use phase... But again that applies the same thinking? The key to this is that you redesign your product. And by redesigning your product you can have a major impact either by changing the raw materials or making the machine more efficient. The calculations are based on a 700 g carpet tile made with PA6.6 and InterfaceFLOR’s Graphlex® backing with the following assumptions: landfilling at end-of-life, no green energy use in the lifecycle, and a product lifetime (use) of 10 years.
If you look carefully, you will see that most of the impact across the whole life cycle comes from making one raw material… the Nylon… almost 50% So, while many focus their attention on the backing, the biggest environmental impact of a carpet tile is actually the yarn. In fact, it has around four times more impact than the backing compound. 3 ways to reduce impact of yarn.
SO our strategy focuses on our yarn… reducing the amount, increasing the recycled content and looking for an alternative.
Microtuft 50% less yarn Same performance Between hard floor and carpet Appealing to non-carpet markets Patented technique
