Interface Sustainability Report

Interface, Inc., Atlanta, GA, November 1997. Copies available at no cost by contacting the company at 770/437-6810. Oversized paperback with the cover printed on a distinctive recycled banana fiber stock, 34 pages.

Interface Sustainability Report is a different type of corporate report. Much more than an environmental progress report, it is at once a mission statement, an admission of guilt for environmental failings, and a charted course for remaking Interface into a company that will “lead the way to the next industrial revolution by becoming the first sustainable corporation, and eventually a restorative enterprise.”

It is a daunting agenda that Interface chairman Ray Anderson set out for his billion-dollar flooring and fabrics business three years ago. Yet the progress made by Interface to date is dramatic. While the company admittedly has a long way to go in achieving sustainability, their leadership role in paving the way may forever change the manufacturing industry. Included in the report are exciting tidbits about progress being made by Interface’s 26 manufacturing plants around the world: dramatic reductions in waste, quickly growing use of recycled fibers and polymers, ecosystem restoration projects at company facilities, and programs to create a strong sense of community among the company’s 6,000-plus employees.

There is room for yet more revelation. For example, a description of the benefits of a 1,000-employee gathering at Hawaii’s Grand Wailea Hotel doesn’t mention the environmental cost of getting everyone there.

The report is graphically inspiring, though somewhat difficult to read—with its narrow columns of tiny text superimposed on photographs of textured fabrics…. But read it. And pass it along to your business associates.