Ray Anderson: The Business Logic of Sustainability

At his carpet company, Ray Anderson has increased sales and doubled profits while turning the traditional “take / make / waste” industrial system on its head. In a gentle, understated way, he shares a powerful vision for sustainable commerce.

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ABOUT Ray Anderson

“Ray Anderson is the founder of Interface, the company that makes those adorable Flor carpet tiles (as well as lots of less whizzy but equally useful flooring and fabric).

He was a serious carpet guy, focused on building his company and making great products. Then he read Paul Hawken’s book ‘The Ecology of Commerce’. Something clicked. With his company’s global reach and manufacturing footprint, he was in a position to do something very real, very important, in building a sustainable world.

Ray focused the company’s attention on sustainable decision-making, taking a hard look at suppliers, manufacturing processes, and the beginning-to-end life cycle of all its products. (For example: If you can’t find a place to recycle a worn or damaged Flor tile, Interface invites you to send it back to them and they’ll do it for you.) They call this drive Mission Zero. Their promise is to “eliminate any negative impact our company may have on the environment by the year 2020.”

The VIDEO