Atlanta - Interface, Inc. has announced its latest global EcoMetrics showing progress the company is making toward its ultimate goal of zero footprint on the environment. Among the most notable results, the company's global greenhouse gas emissions are now down by 52% from the baseline year of 1995, and carpet reclamation efforts are up 35% year-over-year. The company's results, representing end-of-year 2004 data, are now posted on www.interfacesustainability.com/metrics.

Interface began its mission to become a more sustainable business in 1994 and has since tracked data in areas including waste reduction, energy consumption, use of renewable energy, greenhouse gas emissions, water intake, product reclamation, safety performance and social sustainability. The company has made significant progress in 11 years but continues to explore technology and innovations that will bring about the goal of zero footprint.

"With absolute greenhouse gas emissions down significantly and reclamation on the rise, we are further closing that technical loop," said Ray Anderson, founder and chairman of Interface, Inc. "While we continue to make progress toward the goal each year, we see the challenges ahead. Those challenges drive us to work harder to find innovations that will raise the bar for ourselves, our industry, and the industrial world at large."

The company has been able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through a range of energy efficiency programs and offset projects. Increased use of renewable energy is another contributing factor to reduced emissions. In fact, in 2001, Interface committed to the Pew Center on Global Climate Change to reduce non-renewable energy use per unit of production by 15% and increase the use of renewable energy to 10% of total energy by the end of 2005. As of year-end 2004, Interface had exceeded those goals, with non-renewable energy use down 27% and renewable energy as percent of total energy at 11%.

Interface has made strong commitments to renewable energy globally. The company's two carpet manufacturing facilities in the United Kingdom set the standard with use of 100% green electricity. In the U.S., at the company's Bentley Prince Street facility in California, more than 20% of the electrical requirements are filled through renewable energy sources available through the grid. These sources, combined with the facility's on-site photovoltaic array and purchased renewable energy certificates, have enabled Bentley Prince Street to make 100% of its electricity renewable.

Another area showing improvement is the company's carpet reclamation program, ReEntry®. Through ReEntry, Interface reclaims carpet from customers when it is no longer needed, and diverts it from landfills. In 2004 alone, more than 17 million pounds of carpet were diverted via options including recycling (60%), energy capture and conversion (37%) and repurposing the carpet via charitable donation (3%). In total since 1995, more than 66 million pounds of carpet have been reclaimed.

In 2004 the company was also recognized by a number of third-party sources for its progress, including:

Interface, Inc.

Interface, Inc.

Interface, Inc. is the world’s largest manufacturer of modular carpet, which it markets under the InterfaceFLOR, FLOR, and Bentley Prince Street brands. Bentley Prince Street also is a leader in the designer-quality broadloom carpet market. In the mid-1990s, Interface’s Chairman and CEO Ray C. Anderson shifted the company’s strategy, aiming to redesign its industrial practices to instead focus on sustainability without sacrificing its business goals. Interface is committed to doing business in ways that minimize the impact on the environment. Interface companies have adopted an aggressive vision - To be the first company that, by its deeds, shows the entire industrial world what sustainability is, in all its dimensions: People, process, product, place and profits — by 2020 — and in doing so, to become restorative through the power of influence. In respecting that vision, every creative, manufacturing and building decision Interface makes, moves it closer to the goal of eliminating any negative impact Interface companies have on the environment.

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