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At the Top of Their Game • 195

Anderson began to ask questions about Interface’s overall impact—and
when he heard it, he became alarmed. He challenged his engineers to
initiate projects to reduce impact, reduce waste, and improve the bot-
tom line.
The company started with projects focused on waste reduction, consider-
ing the reuse of everything from carpet scraps to industrial effluent, which
immediately led to savings—more than $60 million in the first three years.
So the projects have yielded green as well as improvements in sustainabil-
ity. According to the article, from a standing start in 1994 Interface is on
track to be sustainable by 2020. And even though that article is from 2006,
a more recent interview from November 2009 has Anderson not only
10
saying that they are still on target for 2020, but reaffirming the connection
of environmental green and income green: “Over fifteen years we’ve dem-
onstrated that sustainability is a better way to a bigger and more legitimate
profit.” He goes on to talk about four major points regarding his environ-
mental efforts at Interface, which we paraphrase here:

1. Products are the best they’ve ever been. Sustainability is a wellspring
of innovation.
2. Our people are galvanized around our mission, owing to a sense of
higher purpose and self-actualization that comes when you focus on
something bigger than yourself.
3. The goodwill of the marketplace is tremendous, winning business
for Interface because customers align with a company that is trying
to do the right thing by our environment.
4. Interface serves as a good example of a company that “gets” sustain-
ability. You can see it in their mission statement:

Vision
To be the first company that, by its deeds, shows the entire indus-
trial world what sustainability is in all its dimensions: People, pro-
cess, product, place and profits—by 2020—and in doing so we will
become restorative through the power of influence.

Interface is so well-admired in this area that they have established a
consulting arm to help others understand the issues and start their jour-
ney toward sustainability, and has started a nonprofit community online.
See http://missionzero.org/about.