Interface- Kaeleigh McIntyre

Interface

By: Kaeleigh McIntyre

I have been working on my final project for this class, which is a scrapbook about Interface. Yes, we learned a little bit about Interface in class, but I am absolutely shocked by how much information there is about this company and how far they have come.

The founder of Interface, Ray Anderson, was born in 1935. He attended the Georgia Institute of Technology before working at large carpet manufacturing companies. When he created his own start-up company, Interface, it quickly became the largest producer of modular carpet through expansions and acquisitions.

In 1994, customers began asking questions about what Interface was doing for the environment. When the company didn't have answers, a group of people got together to try and come up with answers. Ray was asked to address this group with a ‘kick-off’ motivation speech. He was quick to discover that he didn't have any answers or know what to say. In a desperate search for inspiration he read The Ecology of Commerce written by Paul Hawken. Anderson has said that it felt like a ‘spear to the chest.’ He knew something needed to be done; this is when Interface turned everything around.

By adopting The Natural Step building model designed by Dr. Karl Hendrik-Robert (and taught in our CSR class) Interface created what they call “Mount Sustainability” and “Mission Zero.”

Mount Sustainability focused on seven goals for Interface:

1.       Eliminate waste

2.       Eliminate Toxic Emissions

3.       Use Renewable Energy

4.       Close the Loop

5.       Use Efficient Transportation

6.       Sensitize Stakeholders

7.       Redesign Commerce

These goals were decided on when they answered the question, ‘If nature designed an industrial process, what might it look like?’

Currently Interface is working towards Mission Zero- their promise to eliminate and negative impact on the environment by 2020. Today at Interface, energy usage is down 43%, renewable energy use is up to 30%, and they have reduced the amount of garbage they send to landfill by 77%.

The steps taken by Interface are incredible. They may only be one company, but they are definitely making a difference to the environment. As Les would say, “That’s a starfish.”

Facts about Mission Zero
http://www.interfaceglobal.com/ZazzSustainabilityAssetts/pdfs/Interface_pdf_summary_report.pdf

Interface website
http://www.interfaceglobal.com/default.aspx 

The Natural Step Website
http://www.naturalstep.org/