“It was a shock to realize that we had no environmental vision.” — RAY ANDERSON, INTERFACE INC. FOUNDER, ATLANTA

Ray Anderson had an epiphany in 1994. “It was somewhat of a shock to me to realize that we had no environmental vision,” says founder and former CEO Anderson, talking about Interface Inc., his Atlanta-based carpet-tile manufacturing company, established in 1973. Until then, the company had followed an environmental strategy of “comply, comply, comply.” But as for a true corporate environmental program, “We didn’t really have one,” he says.

Fourteen years later, the corporation has transformed itself into a model of sustainable business practices. It has cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 82% since 1996, when Interface set a baseline for environmental audits. Process changes

to eliminate waste have generated $372 million in savings from avoided costs over that same period. Total energy use across the firm’s carpet manufacturing plants, measured on a price-per-square-yard basis, has been cut nearly in half. The plants themselves, situated on four continents, set standards for efficiency and green design.

Today the company’s global operations derive more than a quarter of their energy needs from renewables. The firm has invested in solar, wind and geothermal energy sources. All new facilities are designed to the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.

The firm’s legacy plant in LaGrange, Ga., has been reconfigured and expanded 10 times. In 2005, Interface entered into a public-private partnership with the city and began burning methane gas piped from a city landfill 10 miles away. What was once a waste greenhouse gas now provides 45% of the plant’s energy, the company says.

Doing Well by Doing Good

Anderson’s philosophy of doing well by doing good has not hurt Interface in the marketplace. Net operating income is at an all-time high, running at a $1.13-billion annual rate, according to the company’s latest Securities Exchange Commission 10-K filing.

John Bradford, VP of research and development and operations, overhauled production line.

Along the way, Interface has converted its contractors, engineers and architects into green disciples. The company’s in-house sustainability consultancy, InterfaceRAISE, advises much larger firms—WalMart, Boeing, Ford Motor Co.—on how to go green profitably.

Armed with an industrial engineering degree from Georgia Institute of Technology, Anderson joined the textile industry in the late 1950s. After being passed over for a promotion in 1966 at a textile company, Anderson lined up investors, secured a loan, partnered with a U.K.-based firm called Carpets International and started Interface Inc. in 1973.

Anderson helped introduce European carpet tiles to North America, and the adhesive modules became the cornerstone of the start-up firm’s business. Interface went public in 1983 and expanded its reach globally with a spate of acquisitions, including Heuga, the Dutch company that invented carpet tiles in the early 1950s. By 1996, sales topped $1 billion, and Interface was the global leader in commercial carpet tiles.

After Anderson “got religion” about sustainability, many, including some within the corporation, were skeptical that he could transform a dirty, 19th-century business into a clean and green 21st-century process. For Anderson, “The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability” by Paul Hawken put everything into focus. The book lays bare the environmental sins of late 20th-century industrial capitalism. Yet the author also postulates that the same entities destroying the planet have the potential to save it, but radical change must occur.

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