SUSTAINABILITY
Interface also uses 50 percent recycled or biobased raw materials . Operations have also become more efficient , again with European production leading the way . Energy usage has gone down by 54 percent since 1996 while the amount of gas and water used has dropped by 40 and 93 percent respectively .
These headline numbers are hugely impressive , and Arratia is certain that much more can be achieved : “ Since 2008 , our entire environmental footprint of our products , which includes the whole supply chain of suppliers , their suppliers and so on , has been reduced by 39 percent . We have shown it is possible to do it ,” he says . “ While we can ’ t control the entire footprint of a product and the various layers of supply chain , we have calculated that per square foot of tile we can reduce the environmental impact by 80 percent , which is huge .”
The key for Arratia will be flexibility in the manufacturing process . “ We need to have production lines which are adaptable to many different kinds of raw material from which we can make carpet tiles ,” he adds . “ You need to be flexible enough to make yarn from material X or material Y , which can change depending on price and availability , or something new we have found .
“ We have installed a new line in our Scherpenzeel factory in the Netherlands which makes the back of our carpets , and hopefully in the next year we will be able to launch new products made from different raw materials .”
The Scherpenzeel site is arguably Interface ’ s sustainability flagship , producing zero waste to landfill and using 100 percent renewable energy .
Fishing for carpet Interface ’ s sustainability drive is being felt socially as well as environmentally , thanks to schemes such as Net- Works which transforms fish nets into nylon for carpet manufacturing .
So far some 93 tonnes of discarded nets have been gathered from some of the poorest coastal communities in the likes of the Philippines and Cameroon , providing welcome income for local fishermen and muchneeded waste removal from oceans . “ With this sort of innovation we can create much more of an impact beyond the environmental ,” Arratia
22 September 2016