An appeal to industry to set itself ‘’outrageous” – yet attainable – sustainability targets has been made by Rob Boogaard, CEO and president of the Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA) operations of Interface – the world’s largest modular flooring producer.

Speaking at the recent Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA) annual conference in Sandton, Boogaard said the aim of sustainability should not merely be to stop the negative aspects of the production process nor just to limit it. Instead, industry had to comprehensively reverse the trend, set itself ‘’outrageous targets’’, and become restorative in all aspects of environmental protection.

Leading the way

Boogaard said Interface was leading the way in this regard. In its European production facilities, the company has achieved a 90% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions since 1996: 20 years ago it was over 17 000 tonnes per year, it is now under 1 500 tonnes with Interface factories now operating with 95% renewable energy, generally, and 100% at its main production site in the Netherlands. Furthermore, the company sends absolutely no waste to landfill, uses 100% reticulated water in production, and half of the raw materials used to produce its modular flooring are derived from recycled products.

“Interface’s energy usage per unit of production has been halved in the past 20 years, while our ultrasonic cutting technology has reduced waste by 80%. We’ve even gone as far as providing power for our factory by using chocolate waste and dead fish heads. Interface has also managed to drastically reduce the negative environmental impact of carpet tile production by using less yarn, using recycled yarn and developing a new type of yarn. Yarn is responsible for around 45% of the environmental impact of a carpet tile across its full life cycle. This led us to develop our Microtuft products which challenge the perception that high yarn weight equals high quality by showing that a well-constructed, dense surface can be just as durable and hardwearing.

Integrated recycling

‘’Our ReEntry recycling process is a technological breakthrough for the flooring industry. Not only does Interface take back any old carpet at the end of its life, but we even accept carpet from other manufacturers. Using specially developed technology, we convert old carpet to new carpet and other products by reusing the vinyl and nylon components,” Boogaard said.

Additionally, Interface’s Net-Works initiative enables impoverished local residents in various parts of the world to collect discarded fishing nets – which wreak havoc with the marine ecosystem – and sell the nets back into the global supply chain. “This not only provides an additional income for the local communities but also gives those destructive, broken nets a second life as new, durable carpet tiles. Net-Works is proof that when business, conservation, and communities innovate together, we can create positive, sustainable change.”

Boogaard added that Ray Anderson, the founder of Interface, believed that business should not exist merely to make a profit but should also strive for a higher, nobler purpose than that. “Ray was passionate about reducing the carpet industry’s dependency on oil and in 1994 launched Interface’s Mission Zero initiative, which has set 2020 as the target date for Interface to have eliminated all negative impacts on the environment. Increased efficiency, design innovation and revolutionary recycling efforts – which now also include deriving raw materials from vehicles’ old or broken windshields – will in just four years’ time help us meet what sceptics originally regarded as an unrealistic, outrageous target,” he told the conference delegates.

Not just about recycling

In an interview after the GBCSA conference, Boogaard said he was concerned that an increasing number of companies saw the quest for a circular economy merely in terms of providing a recycling service to customers, and an opportunity to produce slick brochures and case studies to illustrate environmental successes. There was also the alarming tendency to develop a ‘green product’ without doing the hard work to internally eliminate any negative impact on the environment during the manufacturing process. ‘’I don’t believe that anybody can make a green product in a brown factory. It’s just not possible,” he said.

*Interface products are exclusive distributed in southern Africa by KBAC Flooring.