Conversations with Green Gurus: The Collective Wisdom of Environmental Movers and Shakers

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Ray Anderson

Ray Anderson is the founder of Interface, Inc. An honours graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology, Ray learned the carpet trade through 14-plus years at various positions at Deering-Milliken and Callaway Mills; and, in 1973, set about founding a company to produce the first free-lay carpet tiles in America. Interface has since diversified and globalized its businesses, with sales in 110 countries and manufacturing facilities on four continents. It is the world’s largest producer of commercial floor coverings.

In 1994 Ray had what he calls a ‘spear in the chest’ epiphany when he first read Paul Hawken’s The Ecology of Commerce, seeking inspiration for a speech to an Interface task force on the company’s environmental vision. Fourteen years and a sea change later, Interface, Inc, is more than 50% towards the vision of ‘Mission Zero’. This is the company’s promise to eliminate any negative impact it might have on the environment by the year 2020, through the redesign of processes and products, the pioneering of new technologies and efforts to reduce or eliminate waste and harmful emissions while increasing the use of renewable materials and sources of energy.

He has authored a book chronicling his journey, Mid-Course Correction: Toward a Sustainable Enterprise: the Interface Model, and become an unlikely screen hero in the 2004 Canadian documentary, ‘The Corporation’ ...