...to come,” says the grandfather of five. He recounts the story in his 1998 memoir, “Mid-Course Correction,” and makes the case for sustainability on camera in “The Corporation,” an award-winning 2003 documentary, as well as speaking on college campuses and talk shows, conferences and corporate retreats.

Related Links: Q&A: 10 Minutes with Ray C. Anderson Slideshow: Carpet Magic by Sam Barnes “Mid-Course Correction: Toward a Sustainable Enterprise” by Ray C. Anderson “The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability” by Paul Hawken “Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired” by Nature by Janine Benyus “Ishmael: An Adventure of the Mind and Spirit” by Daniel Quinn Interface Inc. Sustainability Metrics Multimedia: Going Green - Part 1 Going Green - Part 2 Going Green - Part 3 Going Green - Part 4 Going Green - Part 5 Janine Benyus: 12 Sustainable Ideas from Nature Amory Lovins: Why We Must Win the Oil Endgame

In 1994, Anderson quickly identified waste elimination as the “low-hanging fruit.” The carpet business in the 1970s was a stodgy, petroleum-guzzling process. The creel-beam-tufting machinery and production process, conceived during the 19th century, is an energy-intensive and wasteful process, says John Bradford, Interface vice president of research and development and operations. The technology is inherently inefficient.

“There is waste at each point” in the process, he says. “Our business model has been a take-make-waste model. From the oil pump to the landfill, we were trying to do more, more, more, faster, faster, faster. With the existing process, improvements in automation meant more product, but also more waste.”

Interface lead product design consultant David Oakey says, “For me, as a designer, I didn’t understand how we were going to do it. We took fossil fuels and made our products as best we could.” Outside consultants suggested the company switch from high-Btu synthetic feedstock to natural fibers such as hemp or wool. Oakey was skeptical. He thought, “We’re going to go back to natural products that wouldn’t wear as well as synthetics. This is a billion-dollar business. Have they gone crazy?”

“When Ray rolled out his vision in 1994, when he said we’re going to get off oil,” recalls President and CEO David T. Hendrix. “I’m looking at our cost sheets and the company is more than 90% petroleum-based. I’m thinking, How the heck are we going to get off oil? But he convinced one person at a time.”

Pulling the Rug Out From Business-as-Usual
Clockwise, from top right: Interface founder Ray Anderson “got religion” about sustainability in 1994; Waste reduction radically changed the culture and paid for further process improvements; Interface executives explain changes in facilities and supply-chain management; Carpet production and design changed to a model that mimics nature; Going green also improved profitability.

Hendrix says the most effective single step Anderson took to effect change was to bring in an environmental Dream Team of consultants: Hawken, “Ishmael” author Daniel Quinn, Rocky Mountain Institute Chairman Amory Lovins, sustainable architect John Picard and biologist Janine Benyus. “They helped Ray frame his vision,” Hendrix says.

Benyus’s book “Biomimicry” influenced Oakey. “That did it for me,” he says. “She asked the question, How would nature do it? We got on the bandwagon.”

Trimming the Waste Line

Oakey engaged Bradford’s team to eliminate waste and redesign the production line. For instance, eliminating the middle piece of equipment, the beam, “allowed us to leapfrog straight to the portable creel and begin to concentrate on materials reduction, instead of labor,” Bradford says.

Interface’s move to a biomimetic product design platform was a “pivotal moment,” says John Wells, president and CEO of Interface Americas. Suddenly, diversity was allowed, even desirable. The end of one production run was the beginning of the next. Customers no longer had to purchase 10% of excess material to match patterns. The company launched a residential product line in 2003; by 2007 it accounted for 10% of the company’s overall business.

Oakey committed to Anderson’s bold goal of cutting Interface’s environmental impact to zero by 2020 by making his Pond Studios the greenest building possible. He knew his architect, Elva Rubio, believed as strongly as Benyus that the best design principles are found in nature. “Elva is a brilliant architect, with integrity,” says Oakey, “The firm she was working for wouldn’t take this job, so she quit.” She worked with Oakey for two years on Pond Studios, siting the 15,000-sq-ft structure partially on stilts in a swampy bottom, with the foundation’s remainder tucked into a slope. The building is oriented to optimize natural light and ventilation. Its environs, a pond and tree canopy, function together as a natural heating and cooling system, Rubio says.

When it was done, the showcase to sustainable simplicity in Georgia was honored by the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architecture for Distinguished Building and Interior Architecture. “We came in under the radar,” says Rubio, now vice president of creative design at Bruce Mau Design in Chicago. She also teaches architecture at University of Illinois, Chicago. “We beat entries from SOM and Helmut Jahn,” she says.

The experience also was positive for the contractor, Langford Construction Co. Instead of a low-bid, hard-dollar project, Pond Studios was a cost-plus job. There were frequent discussions among...