Nadine Gudz Director, Sustainability with Interface presents a manufacturers perspective on sustainable materials to the Toronto CSBA Program

1. SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS
Product and Company sustainability in
action
Nadine Gudz
Director, Sustainability Strategy
nadine.gudz@interface.com

2. OUTLINE
- Who is Interface?
- Life Cycle thinking, assessment, stewarship in
action
- Radical transparency: Exploring the
possibilities
- Inspiring systems change: product, company,
supply chains…

4. Take Make Waste
THE INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION
Only 6% of material flow ends up in products
THE SUSTAINABILITY No
REVOLUTION Waste

5. SEVEN FRONTS OF MOUNT SUSTAINABILITY
1. Eliminate Waste
2. Benign Emissions
3. Renewable Energy
4. Closing the Loop
5. Resource-Efficient Transportation
6. Sensitivity Hookup
7. Redesign Commerce

6. $440 MILLION IN AVOIDED
WASTE COSTS, GLOBALLY

7. 2011 ECOMETRICS HIGHLIGHTS
ENERGY USE per unit of production 47% since 1996
RENEWABLE ENERGY 31% of total energy use
NON-RENEWABLE ENERGY USE per unit of production 64% since 1996
GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS 34% from Baseline
RECYCLED MATERIALS 44% of total raw materials use
WASTE TO LANDFILL per unit of production 88% since 1996
WATER USE per unit of production 84% since 1996

8. INSPIRED BY NATURAL SYSTEMS
We created i2 using
biomimicry – a method that
seeks sustainable solutions
by using nature as a model.
Like leaves on a forest floor,
i2 tiles vary from one to the
other – yet they come
together to form beautiful
designs.

9. INSPIRED BY NATURAL SYSTEMS
Mergeable dye lots
- Less attic stock required
Tiles blend regardless of when they're
purchased or installed
Longer life on the floor
i2 non-directional
- Installs faster than roll carpet or
directional modular carpet
Creates less waste since scraps can
be reused along the edges
Original i2, non directional product – Entropy.
Total Recycled Content is 62-74%.
Innovation

10. MEASURING GLOBAL WARMING
IMPACT POTENTIAL
Greenhouse gas emissions Approx. 30 lbs of GHGs for
1 yd2 of carpet
Recycling
71%
End of
Life/
10% 9% 7% Use
Raw material Use &
extraction Manufacturing Product Maintenance
Transportation
3% Landfill

11. WHAT IS LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT?
A science-based methodology for
assessing the environmental
performance of a product over its full
life cycle
- standardized by
ISO 14040 series
- 3 main parts: 1) scope,
2) inventory, 3) impacts

12. LIFE CYCLE STEWARDSHIP

15. CLOSING THE LOOP:
RE-ENTRY 2.0 CARPET
RECLAMATION & RECYCLING

16. the Loop
Fiber is separated and broadloom backing is removed
to be further processed

17. 4

18. Loop - fiber
Face fiber is bailed and shipped to Universal Fibers

24. CONTROVERSIAL
MATERIALS

25. www.pharosproject.net (v2, 5/07/12)

27. EPD STANDS FOR
ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCT
DECLARATION
It is a statement of product ingredients and
potential environmental impacts during the life of
a product.

30. EPD IS BASED ON LIFECYLE DATA
EPD IS THIRD-PARTY VERIFIED
EPD MEETS ISO STANDARDS

31. EPD is not:
-A performance rater
-A sustainability claim
-A system Interface developed for its own purposes

33. TRANSPARENCY LEADERSHIP
INITIATIVE/STANDARD DEVELOPED BY INTERFACEFLOR STATUS
ENVIRONMENTAL PRODUCT ISO (14025 & 14040) 90% OF PRODUCTS
DECLARATION COVERED BY UL- CERTIFIED
EPDs (ALL PRODUCTS BY
END OF 2012)
PHAROS PROJECT HEALTHY BUILDING ALL PRODUCT DATA (NORTH
NETWORK (HBN) AMERICA) IN DATABASE
HEALTH PRODUCT HBN & BUILDINGGREEN.COM COMMITTED TO PILOT
DECLARATION
PERKINS & WILL PERKINS & WILL IN DISCUSSION TO PILOT
TRANSPARENCY LABEL
DECLARE LIVING BUILDING IN DISCUSSIONS
CHALLENGE (ILBI)

34. LEED PILOT CREDIT 43:
PRODUCT CERTIFICATIONS

35. CALL TO ACTION
If you are a design professional, firm, or company
working in the Building Sector (architects,
designers, planners, interior designers, landscape
architects, builders, and/or developers, etc.),
Architecture 2030 encourages you to adopt the
2030 Challenge for Products and pledge to request
third party expert verified Life Cycle Assessment
(LCA) and, where possible, Environmental Product
Declaration (EPD), results from product
manufacturers and specify low-carbon building
products that meet the Challenge targets.

36. Architecture2030.org

37. TRANSFORMING
BUSINESS CULTURE
2010, Ray Anderson, Jim Hartzfeld
and Mona Amodeo, “Changing
Business Cultures from Within”

38. SUMMARY
- Is a product really green if it’s made in a polluting
factory?
- “Sustainable” is not a specialized product line
- Radical transparency -> More complete picture ->
Smarter choices -> More sustainable buildings
- “Controversial materials” = good conversation
starters about ALL materials