REDESIGN COMMERCE

"At Interface we seek to become the first sustainable corporation in the world, and, following that, the first restorative company. It means creating the technologies of the future -- kinder, gentler technologies that emulate nature's systems. I believe that's where we will find the right model."
Ray C. Anderson

Redesigning commerce is about focusing on delivery of service and value instead of the delivery of material. It is about engaging external organizations to create policies and market incentives encouraging sustainable practices.

Issue: Existing business practices are focused on producing and distributing goods and services. A multitude of economic distortions make it difficult, if not impossible, for markets to recognize the true cost of what they produce.

Response: Interface is creating new methods of delivering value to customers, changing its purchasing practices, and supporting initiatives to bring about market-based incentives for sustainable commerce. It is focusing on the services delivered by multiple life cycles of its products.

Re:Entry®

Re:Entry is the carpet reclamation initiative for Interface. More than 103 million pounds of material have been diverted from landfills through this program since 1995.
In 2006, 18 million pounds was diverted from landfill and used in recycling (84%), energy capture and conversion (14%), and repurposed (2%). 
Interface is committed to be responsible for what the company has brought into the world, so if a customer buys carpet from Interface and has existing carpet that needs to be disposed of, we will take it, regardless of its original origin, and determine the best means for processing the product(s) - i.e. recycling, repurposing or energy capture and conversion.

There are a variety of options available for diverting carpet from landfills and some are less preferred than others. Today, most of them still entail costs that are greater than landfilling, but we realize that we must take the lead in order to drive the market toward more environmentally conscious practices.

It is our practice to seek those solutions that are most environmentally conscious first. We also analyze the economic impacts and energy intensity of the processes in our analysis of the options. For instance, if the cost of fuel to transport a product to a recycling facility is higher than the value of the original product, other alternatives, such as repurposing or energy capture and conversion may be considered.

Interface is eager to reclaim vinyl backed carpets to provide feedstock for its GlasBac® RE recycled vinyl composite backing. More than 2.2 million square yards of GlasBac RE have been sold since 1996, keeping millions of pounds of vinyl out of landfills and in the technical loop. In 2005, nearly 423,000 square yards of GlasBac RE were produced.

Carpet that can be reused is donated to charities and "repurposed."

If carpet cannot be recycled for use in other products, and it cannot be repurposed, it is used for energy capture and conversion to create electricity. In this process, carpet is heated in a forced air furnace to create steam. A generator turns the steam into electricity for the community, thereby reducing the use of fossil fuels. These facilities are very efficient and closely monitored to ensure low emissions. Although this is not our preferred solution, it is a better option than putting the carpet in landfills, and it serves as an interim solution for traditional broadloom carpet and non-recyclable carpet tile.

Read our press releases on ReEntry and New Technologies:

November 8, 2005 – Interface Puts More Distance Between Manufacturing and the Well Head – Read the Press Release

November 8, 2005 – ReEntry Drives New Technologies at Interface – Read the Press Release

October 20, 2005 – Bentley Prince Street Expands ReEntry Reclamation Program Through Partnership with INVISTA – Read the Press Release

We recognize that recycling is merely one component of the solution to a larger problem. At Interface we are committed to continue our work to develop new backing systems that can easily be recycled into the original material (closed loop recycling) and we are committed to continue our research to identify and perfect means for recycling other existing backing types and nylon from the face construction. We are also committed to certify our products to those programs like the EPP Certification for Carpet from Scientific Certification Systems, that provides third-party validation for multiple environmental attributes, including recycling.

Interface participates in the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE), as a Sustainability Leadership Sponsor. CARE is a nationally supported organization that focuses on the development and promotion of carpet recycling solutions. Click here for more information on CARE.

For more information on Interface Americas' ReEntry program, contact Interface Americas Sustainable Services at 1.888.REENTRE (733.6873).

ReSKU™
ReSKU is the textile reclamation initiative from InterfaceFABRIC. Currently in the piloting stage, the challenge is to create a new generation of interior textile products. It is IF's goal to close the loop in a way that emulates nature by taking waste fabrics and turning them into materials that will continue to feed diverse applications. For more information, visit the ReSKU web site. resku

Evergreen Service Contract

Delivering value by combining product and service over time provides tremendous opportunities to reduce the life-cycle footprint of commercial buildings.

By introducing the first ever carpet leasing program, Interface has taken a leadership role in extended product responsibility that enhances the services we offer to our contract customers.

The Evergreen Service Contract is a visionary alternative to purchasing carpet, which offers a means of responsible environmental stewardship for our clients and Interface. By using a "less is more" concept, client carpet needs can be met initially and rejuvenated periodically, prolonging the useful life of the carpet.

Large initial capital expenditures may be reduced and replaced by predetermined monthly billings. Monthly billings are actually a "lease" on the flooring systems and the services associated with them.

    Here's an example:

    First Cycle: Product selection and design are established with future needs in mind. A complete installation is done and periodic change-outs of track areas are incorporated into the plan.

    Second Cycle: A new lease is established for areas needing renovation, such as high traffic aisle ways, and periodic change-outs of track-off areas are once again included.

    Third Cycle: A combination of new and reused (from the customer's site) carpet may be reconfigured to rejuvenate the space; much less material is used than in an overall replacement.

    Using this type of program, Interface delivers benefit to the lease customer through product and service (fresh looking, functional flooring systems), backed by a total satisfaction warranty.

    Interface continues to own the means of delivery (i.e. carpet) for its useful life in the building, ensuring that as product is replaced, it is either used again or reclaimed and recycled, and that it never ends up in a landfill.

    In the end, Interface recovers its assets, as well as their residual value, and chooses how to best integrate product components back into the process of eliminating waste.

Engaging External Organizations

Ray Anderson is a graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology. He serves on the Georgia Tech Advisory Board (GTAB), a sounding board for the president of the institution on strategic issues.

As a current member, and past chairman of the GTAB board, Mr. Anderson has had the opportunity to assist Georgia Tech President, Dr. Wayne Clough in an effort to engage the entire Georgia Tech faculty and administration in a collegial effort to rethink and rewrite Georgia Tech's vision and mission statement.

Initially Georgia Tech's mission and vision were devoid of the words "environment", "ecology" and "sustainability." Mr. Anderson was instrumental in driving the institution's decision to revise their documents to reflect "work for a sustainable society" and to influence their thinking on the importance of understanding sustainability and its impact on our future.

As a result, Sustainable Technology has joined Biotechnology and Telecommunications Technology as one of the three major thrusts, or strategic areas of study, that Georgia Tech is mounting for the 21st Century.

Mr. Anderson is very involved with his old school at Tech, now renamed the Industrial and Systems Engineering (IsyE) School, and ranked number one in the nation by U.S News and World Report for six consecutive years.

Interface and Ray Anderson have endowed a chair within the IsyE School, the Anderson-Interface Chair of Natural Systems. Dr. Bill Rouse, the head of the IsyE School has a standing challenge from Ray Anderson: to learn how a forest works. Mr. Anderson believes it is the work of a lifetime.

"As the forest's symbiotic relationships are understood, new organizing principles for industry will be revealed."
Ray Anderson


As the organizing principles for industry are revealed, they will shape the model for industrial systems in the 21st Century and the next industrial era, and will define the means by which Interface, striving to become the Prototypical Company of the 21st Century, will operate.

Prototypical Model of the 21st Century

Interface's affiliation with a number of external organizations, coupled with the efforts of the Eco-Dream Team, have made the development of The Interface Model™ of Corporate Sustainability possible. This model was developed to guide a petrochemical dependent, multinational industrial enterprise toward sustainability. The model presents the seven "faces" of what we at Interface term as a "mountain higher than Everest, Mt. Sustainability." The Interface Model shows ways that sustainability can be achieved through all seven fronts, with special emphasis on "redesigning commerce."

Research & Development

In keeping with the Interface model, we use these basic principles to guide product design and development at Interface:
  • We strive to create products that do more with less material and energy content
  • When designing a product with multiple components we try to design with eventual disassembly in mind
  • If possible and practicable, we prefer to design products made from a single material so that it can be more easily recovered and recycled
  • We are researching ways to make all of our products out of renewable materials
  • Associates are trained in The Natural Step which provides a framework for evaluating the sustainability impact of design decisions, as well as the concepts of biomimicry - learning from nature and incorporating what is learned into product development

At Interface, we are completely reimagining and redesigning everything we do, including the way we define our business. While there is no one solution to the impact we now have on Earth and its ecosystems, the company shares one vision: to lead the way to the next Industrial Revolution by becoming the first sustainable corporation and eventually a restorative enterprise. We know, broadly, what that means for us. It is daunting. It is a mountain to climb that is higher than Everest, but we have found the direction of "up." We climb onward and upward. Won't you come along with us?

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