Ecometrics
InterfaceFLOR began tracking EcoMetrics in 1996, measuring energy and water intake, waste streams, greenhouse gas emissions and raw materials streams, to measure our progress towards the goal of sustainability and doing business in ways that minimize the impact on the environment.
What gets measured gets managed and in Interface's case our EcoMetrics assess how much we take in, in terms of materials and energy, and what comes out, in the form of products and waste.
Each InterfaceFLOR plant tracks hundreds of metrics quarterly The results are aggregated, annualised and published.
In Australia
InterfaceFLOR Australia has published our 2008 calendar year Ecometrics for our Picton plant. Compared to 2007:
Non renewable energy consumption is down 12.3% 
Greenhouse gas emissions are down 6.5%The upgraded factory in Picton, NSW, has been designed to reduce energy consumption. Initiatives include using natural gas in the production process rather than electricity, as it has four times less greenhouse effects; motion-triggered light sensors; and our forklift fleet has been reduced with efficient plant design cutting LPG consumption.
In 2009 we expect to see further reductions for the following projects:
- New mix plant commissioned to reduce power consumption in mixing and pumping materials
- Trialling compact fluorescent lighting
- Installing commercial scale solar hot water plant
Water usage has been reduced by 18.4%While InterfaceFLOR , moved away from wet dying yarn many years ago there still remains opportunities to reduce water usage. In 2008 we recorded our lowest ever water use per m2 of carpet by closing up cooling and latex water use.
Collection of roof water for production and amenities use is planned in the next stage of plant expansion.
Raw Materials are down by 13%Continued investment
in our new product development programme delivers improvement in raw
material utilisation across our product portfolio. This is driven by the realisation that the greenest material is the material that isn't needed in a product.
In 2009 we are working with our yarn suppliers to reduce waste created through matching dye lots.
Solid Waste Generated is up by 48% A thorough review of our internal waste measurement showed we were under-estimating process waste.
Re-setting this metric has the manufacturing team focussed on waste reduction work this year:
- Tracking and reducing yarn usage with each customer order
- Reusing carpet on joins between customer orders
- Ensuring the lowest waste from conversion to 2m wide production
Beyond 2009We are focused on continuing to explore opportunities that disconnect carpet materials from petrochemicals. Along with further product re-engineering to drive material use down and replacing Post Industrial (PI) content with Post Consumer (PC) content.
Want to know more?
For more detailed information about InterfaceFLOR's journey to sustainability, click here.