"In the future, people like us will go to prison". Those are the words of Ray Anderson, chairman and founder of Interface. A strange thing to say perhaps, but most of our raw materials are virgin petrochemicals; we have 27 factories and the majority of our products, once used, end up in landfill.
With sales offices in 110 countries, over 7,000 employees and annual sales over US$1.2 billion, Interface, alongside every other major corporation, continues to damage the planet.
We recognise we are part of the problem, and we intend to become part of the solution.

In 1994, a growing tide of environmental awareness among our clients, encouraged a group of Interface managers to hold a conference to review our position. They asked Ray Anderson to provide
a keynote address. As the conference date drew nearer, Ray realised he did not have a 'vision' on the environment that he could share with his team.
However, just before the conference, someone sent him a copy of Paul Hawken's book, "The Ecology of Commerce". The book literally changed Ray’s life.

At the conference Ray gave a speech that surprised him, stunned his team and galvanised us all into action when he challenged us to convert Interface into a Sustainable Business.
This has lead to a new vision;

We will be the company that, by our deeds, shows the entire industrial world what sustainability is in all its dimensions: people, process, product, place and profits by 2020 - and, in doing so,
we will become restorative through the power of our influence.

We have developed a strategy to take us to sustainability. It has 7 fronts.

1. Eliminate waste.
We measure all waste in the organisation and have saved an amazing 165 million US dollars since 1994. This is paying for the revolution in our company as we reinvest it in new technologies,
equipment and Research & Development.

2. Eliminate harmful emissions. (See Benign Emissions)
We want to be sure that whatever we emit is harmless to the biosphere.
We counted all outlet stacks and pipes in our factories, and have set out to close down every one of them. So far we’ve shut down 66 of the 241 - 27% in 6 years.

3. Use only renewable energy. (See Renewable Energy)

We believe we must move away from fossil fuel electricity. Our UK sites use 100% renewable electricity.

4. Create closed loop processes.
Taking our products back at the end of their useful life and giving them life after life in closed loop fashion. If we can get this right, we will never have to take another drop of oil from the earth.

5. Minimize movements of people and material.
This is a difficult issue for an organisation operating in 110 countries.

In the medium and long term we hope to eliminate our production of carbon dioxide, but in the short term we are beginning to compensate for the carbon dioxide we emit. We are working with customers to
provide ‘carbon neutral floorcoverings’ where we reclaim the carbon produced in the production of the product by investing in non Interface carbon reduction projects aroundthe world.

6. Energising people.
This is best described as simply “spreading the word” and bringing others along on the journey.

7. Pioneer new business models of sustainability.
We are proposing the redesign of commerce itself which, perhaps, calls for the recognition of different principles of economics than those currently reflected in laws. For example - laws that no longer tax
labour and property, but tax waste and pollution instead.

We’re doing what we set out to do in 1994, transforming Interface into a new kind of industrial company.
We have stayed the course on sustainability and there has never been any temptation to waver from this commitment. It has meant too many positive things to our business, brought us too many customers,
and galvanised our people around too much pride and purpose to be abandoned or even de-emphasised.
Today for Interface, sustainability is broader than before. As we get our whole act together, it reaches out to embrace people, process, products, place, and profits (the five Ps of sustainability).
We have learned that all require equal attention.