Ray Anderson started his company,
Interface, back in the 1970s to make carpet. Like any business man, he wanted to shake up the market and make a healthy profit, which he’s done, and Interface now has 17 manufacturing locations on four continents. But this is not business as usual. Not anymore. Since having a sustainability epiphany, as he calls it, Ray has starting steering Interface toward one hell of a goal: zero negative effects on the planetary ecosystem by the year 2020, a goal he admits no corporation has yet reached. TreeHugger has long found inspiration in Interface’s elegant design solutions—products like
modular carpet and
FLOR—and in Anderson’s own
sagely words. ::
TreeHugger Radio
Listen to the podcast of this interview via
iTunes, or just click
here to listen, right-click to download. For Part Two of this interview,
click here.
Special thanks go to
CraigMichaels, the organizer of the Sustainable Operations Summit, for arranging this interview.
(Full text after the jump)...
File this one in the 'how to do it right' category: earlier this week, Interface Inc., the world's largest manufacturer of modular carpet tiles, released their 2007 "ecometrics," measuring the impact of their operations on the planet. Among the impressive numbers: greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are down 82 percent from the 1996 baseline, while total energy intensity (use per unit of output) is down 45 percent from 1996. In a nutshell, these numbers mean that they've learned how to make more carpet with less energy, emissions and pollution.
In addition to typical financial metrics like profit and loss, Interface began tracking their ecometrics in 1996, measuring energy and water intake, waste streams, greenhouse gas emissions, and raw materials streams, to evaluate its progress towards the goal of sustainability and doing business in ways that minimize the impact on the environment....
Awhile back, when TreeHugger Lloyd asked if
bamboo flooring was really TreeHugger green, he noted that the lack of chain of custody certification made it tough to tell whether or not the bamboo came from sustainable sources. There's no arguing that bamboo is quickly renewable, but its green benefits can be canceled out if growing and harvesting it result in deforestation and habitat and biodiversity loss. Thankfully, some of the guesswork has been taken out of this process with today's announcement that
Smith & Fong has secured Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification for its bamboo flooring and plywood.
This certification enables the company to produce "the world's first range of FSC-certified bamboo plywood and flooring," according to their press release. Combined with
Smith & Fong's use of glues with negligible levels of formaldehyde, a pretty nasty carcinogen and contributor to
indoor air pollution, the certification makes the company's bamboo products a pretty green choice....
A new technique for construction caught our eye at Barcelona’s material library
Mater (more about that below):
Drysystem. Drysystem is a new tile laying system, developed by the Spanish ceramic company
TAU, that doesn’t require getting your hands dirty. This new way of putting tiles doesn’t require any kind of adhesive; the pieces simply slot into each other. 45x90 cm tiles can be slotted seamlessly into a polymer base. ...
InterfaceFLOR, the leading sustainable carpet company (
FLOR and
Button Rug), has added a new category called
FairWorks to their sustainable flooring options. This time, sustainability wasn’t the only aspiration, but InterfaceFLOR made sure their new products are also socially responsible. The collection promises new sustainable materials and traditional skills from around the world in the shape of unique, eco-luxury flooring. ...
I love linoleum; it is completely natural (made from linseed oil and flax), durable and nice looking. About the only knock against it is the energy used to bake it. Modern Mechanix describes its manufacture in 1936; little has changed since.
"In 1863, Fredrick Walton, a youthful inventor of Yorkshire, England, made a great discovery in an open paint pot, over the contents of which the usual scum had formed. Turning his inventive genius to the matter of a use for this tough scum, he developed the idea for a new material which brought fine floors within reach of the average family for the first time."
...
West Coast Green – when they billed it as the biggest green building conference on this coast, they weren’t lying. It was huge and the lineup of speakers was excellent. There were roughly 4 tracks a day with at least 40 different sessions going on at the same time so there was no way to come even close to seeing everything. It was amazing!...
FLOR, the fab modular carpet tiles, have
matched up with Martha Stewart,
gone out to the patio, celebrated
10 years green and even found time to
get named to TreeHugger's Best Designers list. Their latest trick: a catalog full of new ideas, including some really creative, colorful designs that push the carpet tiles way beyond blocks of solid color. To wit:
Souk Chic, pictured above, a "very modern take on the nearly thousand-year-old practice of knotting together still-vibrant sections of otherwise worn Turkish and Persian rugs to form a new, patchwork of color and pattern (early recycling!)" When it comes to modern-day recycling, remember that FLOR does what they call Return-Recycle service (a little R&R) as part of their
environmental initiatives. After the jump: FLOR goes shag (really!) and has some fun with Hopskotch.
::FLOR via
::Apartment Therapy...
We never thought you'd see these words on TreeHugger: check out this killer shag rug. Made by the
Anji Mountain Bamboo Rug Co., the shagadelic rugs are 80% bamboo, 20% cotton. Despite the retro moniker, the rugs have a decidedly modern feel, and the shagginess gives it almost a faux-animal-skin-rug feel. Adding the bamboo is a nice touch; the same anti-microbial, anti-bacterial properties that benefit
bamboo apparel are at work here, making it soft to the touch and a good option for floorcoverings. While we know that
all bamboo is not created equal, it beats a lot of conventional alternatives. Plus, we just like that it's a shag rug that doesn't suck.
::Anji Mountain Bamboo Rug Co. via
::MoCo Loco...
Panasonic has introduced electric radiant rugs into the Japanese market. Normally we would say this is just another electricity waster, but we used to have prototypes for a heated carpet that never went into production, and until we gave them up after the rubber backing started drying out they were absolutely wonderful; even if the house was at 55 degrees one could sit on that rug and feel warm as toast. The kids and the cat were glued to it. A 2 tatami mat sized rug is rated at 500 watts, but heats up to 114 degrees, which is way more than you need for comfort. Our old one drew 200 watts and was more than enough.
Why heat the whole house when toasty feet are all you need? Panasonic, bring those rugs to North America.
::Freshome...
Breathe deep: Chances are that air is not as fresh as you would like to think it is.
Indoor Air Quality, which is shown to influence both your
health and your
productivity, is continually affected by airborne pollutants such as smoke, food and cooking smells, ammonia, and other organic odors which can be continually circulated. Well, imagine a carpet that quietly cleans up the air around you. We recently heard about
Puralex, a high-tech odor neutralizer introduced by commercial carpet manufacturer
Beaulieu Commercial. According to Beauilieu, Puralex breaks down and destroys these airborne pollutants. ...
You’ve probably seen
Milliken Carpet on the
Cleaner and Greener certified list and their campaign to
plant trees with a click for the Georgia Arbor Day festivities. Milliken continues with their sustainable practices by carrying out life cycle assessments of their carpet products. Their website says they’ve, “used Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for years to track upstream and downstream impacts along with inputs and outputs in raw materials and energy to make our products and affiliated processes more sustainable.” The company has a No Carpet Landfill Pledge through which they report zero waste to landfill since 1999. They take back your old carpet and evaluate the best options for recycling and recovery: renewal through their product called Earth Square tiles that are 100% post consumer product, donations for charitable reuse, recycling into new products or energy cogeneration of unusable waste components.
Apart from closing the loop at the end-of-life phase they also screen all resources and materials for better alternatives, they operate using Design for the Environment or ecodesign principles, and through their LCA experiences they created their “TractionBack” bio-based, adhesive free installation system. It looks like Milliken is using life cycle assessment to create a better and greener business. You can read more about how they extend their product life cycle
here. More on greener carpets and rugs
here. Image credit:
Milliken Floor Coverings. ...
Deftly combining contemporary symbols (like airplanes, modern architecture, a McDonalds sign and what looks to be a windmill or two) with aging materials, Netherlands-based studio Jo Meesters and vormgevingsbureau take used ceramics and sandblast them to create a new landscape. Meesters aims to combine technology and craftsmanship, with a balance between aesthetics and innovation within his designs, and the results of this hybridization are quite striking. Hit the jump for more pics of "Ornamental Inheritance" (the ceramic project), and for the details on more of Meesters' work on something called "My Secret Garden."
::studio Jo Meesters...
We wish to say congratulations to
Nani Marquina for 20 years (
watch video here) of brilliant work in the world of carpets! We mentioned Nani Marquina’s
carpet collection made from recycled bicycle inner tubes and the
Emiliana felt slippers but it’s time we give you the whole story about this fabulous Barcelonian carpet designer.
For each product, a kind of poetic product life cycle assessment is being done: '
each product always tries to give a synthesis: of who thinks up the product, of who makes it, who looks after it and all those who enjoy it.' What we love about these carpets, apart from the fact that they are simply gorgeous, is that they are almost always made from natural materials such as jute or wool, which makes them 100% biodegradable. The very strong point however lies in the ability to join East and West by carpet. Nani Marquina’s carpets are hand-made in India, Nepal or Pakistan and guarantee that no child labour was involved in producing them. ...
Until you are renovating, floors are not something that one naturally thinks about. But should you start, you will discover that finding eco-friendly and good looking flooring has become a lot easier in the last while.
Stonemats from the west coast of New Zealand are made of flat pebbles found on a beach. The stones are weathered and flattened as they tumble down the many rivers flowing from the Southern Alps to the Tasman Sea. The government allows the harvesting of the pebbles from one beach as long as they are collected manually with no machines involved. The mats are great as bath mats or paths. And they also look good as place mats on a table as well.
If stones aren't the answer, what about coconut or cinnamon bark? Little pieces of coconut shell or cinnamon bark are bonded together to
create tiles with warm tones--and the faintest spice-market aroma. A strong and durable
sisal mat or carpet always looks neutral and stylish. Or recycled
leather floor tiles for a more luxurious look. For the garden, these outdoor rubber tiles, called
Dal-lastic, are manufactured from 100% recycled rubber making them a sustainable alternative to timber decking. They are green (literally), slip-resistant and soft to walk on. ...
As the name suggests, the
Green Fusion Design Center (GFDC) offers a slick combo of green building and design retail, a bookstore, and a showroom for all of their green products. Offering not just the stuff to make your home healthier and more efficient, but also the green knowledge behind the benefits of using bamboo cabinets or no-VOC paint, GFDC aims to bridge the gap between supply and demand for your greener life. The store is located in San Anselmo, California (just north of San Francisco), and recently celebrated the expansion of their showroom into a new, larger gallery space; they now claim to be the largest, most comprehensive green retail store in the Bay Area, with a product list to match. They've got a pretty wide variety of products that reads like a how-to 'hugg your home, from paints and wallcoverings like
AFM Safecoat and
American Clay Plaster to building materials like
kirei board to flooring options including
cork and
marmoleum to kitchen accoutrements like
AlterEco bamboo cabinets and
AZCAST stools and tabletop accessories...whew. ...
GCS Radiant in Amherst New York State, USA, makes radiant floor heat panels that are designed to sharply reduce the cost of heating a home. The patented panels use recycled products, require less construction material to install than typical systems, and go in faster. Cost of installation reported to be under US$6/ft2.
"Radiant heat systems work by running warm water through tubes beneath the floor. Typically the tubes run under a concrete slab which stores heat and then radiates it through the flooring laid on top of it. Makers of the systems market them as a more efficient way to heat a home." The modular panels by GCS consist of a top layer made of concrete, which speeds up the installation process. The bottom of the panels contain grooves for the tubes, protecting them from damage." Decorative flooring goes atop the system. TreeHugger strongly recommends reading the entire article in Buffalo News. Via:
The Buffalo News, Business Today Image credits:: Buffalo News and GCS, respectively....
Anyone who has ever worked in a commercial kitchen or on a sales floor knows how hard it is on the feet to stand up all day, and how nice a soft padded floor is; that is why I have never understood why people would ever put ceramic tiles in a kitchen. Elephant bark is made from recycled tires, which are certainly not a resource in short supply- worldwide, three billion tires are thrown away each year, and eight out of ten end up in landfill or "stockpiled"- waiting for some kind of use while providing a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes.
It is easy to clean and can be used indoors or out, is locally made in the US and is cheap at about two bucks per square foot in quantity. Note: UMBRA used to sell placemats made from recycled tires and they really smelled for a couple of days.
::Elephant Bark found by the
::LEED Pro...
TreeHugger really likes modular designs. Their movable, changeable pieces allow for both multiple, easily re-imagined configurations, and quick, easy replacement in case of an accident like a permanent stain. This proves most beneficial in things like
carpet and
cushions, where high traffic and errant red wine spills can damage or blemish your belongings. We really like the looks of the "Imperial" carpet tiles from
contraforma, whose groovy shapes allow for lots of fun and different design possibilities, but their synthetic materials and no sign of lifecycle design or product take-back plan gets the TreeHugger thumbs down. FLOR has pretty much
had the run of
TreeHugger's coverage of modular carpet tiles (and their sustainable offerings definitely deserve the good green press they've received), and they will continue to until contraforma and others get hip to the green game. You can do it!
::contraforma via
::Freshome...
We'll be working on better category archives soon. In the meantime, take a look at the
if you really want to dig around, or use the search box at the top of the page.
on 11. 2.09
To give the headline context, here's Haworth's Profile
images courtesy 
