The inventor of nylon once told Interface it was impossible to recycle nylon yarn, an integral but oil-rich ingredient of its carpet tiles. In 2011, the company launched Biosfera I, using 100% recycled nylon – just one example of the way Interface constantly pushes itself, and its suppliers, to challenge conventional thinking.
Since launching Mission Zero in the mid-90s Interface has been a pioneer of the sustainability movement.
The company’s pledge to eliminate its environmental impacts by 2020 was ambitious enough. Working to achieve it led to a transformation in the way the company works, and the development of a business model built on considering and reducing the environmental impact of everything it does.
As a result, Interface has significantly reduced its environmental impacts while achieving long-term growth in profits – a particularly impressive achievement given that the company operates in an industry that is traditionally carbon and oil intensive.
But thinking the unthinkable is business as usual for a company whose Go Beyond project looks ahead of current sustainability practice in a bid to reduce its biggest environmental impact – the extraction and use of raw materials, particularly nylon yarn.
“Go Beyond goes further than standard practice. If this is a radical change to core business, it’s radical innovation,” said the Guardian judging panel.
Source: The Guardian
By Lorna Thorpe