Conserving water, reducing energy usage and eliminating waste can improve the environment, help communities become more sustainable and save money. Net Zero strategies are one way to accomplish these ends, and flooring companies are taking the lead. Simply put, Net Zero means consuming only as much energy as produced, achieving a sustainable balance between water availability and demand, and eliminating solid waste sent to landfills. So what companies are seeking to avoid leaving a carbon footprint? Who has Net Zero goals? Why is it important, and what steps are being taken to get there?
Interface’s Mission
Zero Any conversation around the concept of Net Zero has to begin with Interface, the world’s largest manufacturer of commercial carpet tile. Ray Anderson founded Interface in 1973, pioneering the concept of modular carpet tile in America. Over the past 41 years, the Atlanta-based company has consistently led the industry through innovation to become a billiondollar enterprise. Anderson, who passed away in 2011, was a passionate and outspoken champion of sustainability. Twenty years ago he began steering Interface on a path to develop modular carpet using materials and processes that take less from the environment. What has evolved is Mission Zero, a promise publicly made in 1994 to eliminate any negative impact Interface has on the environment by 2020. For years, Interface has likened its sustainability efforts to climbing a mountain with several fronts with its 7 Fronts of Mount Sustainability model. “What we have learned is that the foundation of that mountain is the engagement of our associates, customers and suppliers as we journey to Mission Zero,” said Lindsay James, vice president of restorative enterprise. “Without the engagement of our staff and our stakeholders, we wouldn’t be able to make progress on the other fronts of our journey (eliminating waste, •GOPRINCIPLE sustainability through net zero strategies BY LIZ SWITZER 10 I GO I FALL 2014 using only renewable energy, closing the loop, etc.). For this reason, much of our recent investment in Mission Zero has been dedicated to reinvigorating associates’ connections to our mission, and [we] are confident this investment will pay great dividends in terms of innovation on the other fronts.” Interface has also taken initiative in investing in energy efficiency projects, including LED lighting retrofits for its manufacturing facilities. With these locations in Australia, China, the Netherlands, the U.K., Thailand and the U.S., business at Interface takes place on a global platform with sales in more than 110 countries with 3,500 global employees on six continents. But Interface customers are increasingly receiving local products, no matter where their project is located — a more sustainable approach. Interface also continues to utilize Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) in examining the entire life cycle of its products with the aim to close the loop on them. Heavily invested in reclaiming old carpet, the company is striving to eliminate the upstream environmental burden associated with its raw materials while simultaneously eliminating the end-of-life impacts of landfilling or incinerating used products. “While we have been recycling our products for years now, we are very excited to be introducing new technology that will vastly improve the material throughput efficiency of our recycling process,” James said. “This represents a major step in our journey as we continue to strive to ‘get off oil’ and use only recycled or bio-based raw materials for our products by the year 2020.”
Transparency at Mohawk
Since 2009, Mohawk Industries has been working toward meaningful and measurable reductions in its energy, emissions, water and waste footprint. At the current time, 20 Mohawk plants are zero manufacturing waste facilities. “Looking ahead, we have set aggressive targets for our energy intensity, greenhouse gas intensity, water intensity and waste-to-landfill intensity numbers, and we are well on our way to achieving these goals,” said Rochelle Routman, director of sustainability, Mohawk Group. As a partner of the International Living Future Institute, Mohawk is a champion of the Living Building Challenge, which is especially unique in that its approach to building, design and management is NetPositive and focuses on restoring the environment. “One aspect of the Living Building Challenge’s commitment to NetPositive is ensuring all products are free of red list materials,” Routman said. “Mohawk Group is proud to align with such an aspirational program and, as a leader in the transparency discussion, is offering the largest number of red list-free carpet products in the flooring industry today.” Ultimately, transparency is where the sustainability discussion is headed for the commercial building industry because of concerns for a healthy and productive office environment, and it is the keystone of Mohawk Group’s sustainability initiatives. “[We are] leading the entire flooring industry with the largest and most varied selection of products that have associated environmental product declarations (EPDs), health product declarations (HPDs) and Declare labels,” Routman continued. “We welcome the sharing of our product ingredients because Mohawk Group offers a wide spectrum of flooring products that are free of red list chemicals of concern and are, therefore, suitable for any project. Our commitment to product transparency has inspired the organization to become more aware of our ingredients, which creates a better product and a better choice for our customers.”
Reducing Bentley’s Carbon Footprint
Reducing its carbon footprint is one of the chief objectives of Bentley’s sustainability program moving into 2015. “In today’s carbon-heavy atmosphere, we need to do all we can to not just reduce our emissions but eliminate them,” said Ralph Grogan, Bentley’s president and CEO. “Bentley continually seeks to improve on every front, and this is especially true of our effort to minimize our impact on the environment down to zero. We recognize that we are living in a time when the management of resources and carbon emissions is more than just good — it is imperative. As responsible global citizens, it behooves us and serves to better our customers and communities to move toward operating as a Net Zero facility.” Grogan said the company knows it is possible to continue to provide a top-quality product with diminishing impacts and, while Bentley does not want to send production into shock, it realizes that time is of the essence. “Our team is working on accessing and evaluating our practices to make such changes and maintain quality with innovation solutions that minimize or eliminate emission,” he explained. “We must preserve the beauty and performance of our products while serving as a restorative and regenerative force.” Bentley plans to increase solar and renewable energy capacity. Currently, the company uses 100% renewable energy through renewable energy credits (RECs), but plans to increase on-site renewable energy to reduce reliance on coal power energy supplied by the grid. Bentley will also update and expand its on-site solar array, which has been in place since the 1990s, as well as its machinery, such as boilers. The company remains focused on water reduction through product innovation and production changes. For example, Bentley is designing products that utilize a more efficient dye process since this is the most water-intensive segment of production.
ReducIng Emissions at Shaw
Shaw takes a holistic approach to sustainability, which includes a focus on reducing energy intensity and reducing carbon emissions. By 2030, the company plans to reduce energy intensity by 40%, said Paul Murray, vice president, sustainability and environmental affairs. “Identifying opportunities to save energy and the associated emissions is both good for the planet and integral to our business. As a result, we factor energy and greenhouse gas into our decisions as we develop new products and processes, and as we expand our business. We also continue to look for opportunities to make meaningful improvements in our existing operations.” Since 2011, Shaw has invested nearly $20 million in new equipment and systems that help to reduce its energy and greenhouse gas impacts — including more than $5 million in 2013. These investments included equipment and technology upgrades that have continued to roll out to additional locations in 2013. As a result, Shaw said it saved 20,817 tons of CO2 in 2013, which is equivalent to the annual energy usage of nearly 1,900 homes. Also in 2013, Shaw installed a 1 MW solar panel system — one of the largest commercial installations in the Southeastern U.S. — on the roof of its carpet tile manufacturing facility in Cartersville, Ga.
Murray said Shaw’s additional long-term Net Zero goals are focused on achieving its 2030 sustainability mission, including:
- reducing total waste to landfill 100%
- reducing hazardous waste 100%
- reducing water intensity 50%
- achieving an OSHA incident rate of zero
- designing 100% of its products to Cradle to Cradle protocols
Mannington Focuses on Waste
Since 2001, Mannington has worked toward a benchmark metric that Dave Kitts, vice president, environment, calls a “net user of waste.’’ The idea is simple, he said. “The waste we bring in and incorporate into our products should be greater than the waste we send out from manufacturing them. Reducing waste is a good idea. Reusing waste instead of virgin raw materials is an even better one. Doing both while making top-quality products is certainly a tough thing to do, but a great combination for improvement.” The metric continues to be part of Mannington’s environmental improvement journey, promoting the avoidance of landfill and using internal or external materials to displace virgin raw materials. “For example, our Georgia carpet operation has achieved net-user status for many years, as high as 7 x’s,” Kitts said. “We’ll incorporate this same thinking into LVT when we fully establish our on-shoring investments.”
