Webinar: Mission Zero – Life Cycle Assessments

Wednesday, February 10, 2010
8:45am – 10:00 am ET
7:45am – 9:00 am CT
6:45am – 8:00 am MT
5:45am – 7:00 am PT

Member $70
Non-Member $95
Please note: RCA accepts only Visa & Mastercard for credit card payments.
Click here to register online. Click here to download a registration form.

Join us for a virtual program. Web & Audio access information will be sent following registration.

There's more to being green than selling green products. InterfaceFLOR considers the environmental impact of every decision made. By 2020, InterfaceFLOR wants that environmental impact to be zero. They call this Mission Zero: a promise to eliminate any negative impact the company may have on the environment by the year 2020.

Achieving zero means ensuring that the processes used to create products, install them and reclaim them at the end of their useful life are just as environmentally-friendly as the product itself. Every decision made is held against Mission Zero as a litmus test - from product design to manufacturing to investments in new technology.

Learn how InterfaceFLOR uses Life Cycle Assessments (LCAs) to evaluate the total environmental impact of a decision. LCAs look at multiple attributes, such as embodied energy, acidification, human health, etc. InterfaceFLOR is on the cutting edge of an industrial revolution, showing the world there is a new way to do business that doesn’t waste our precious natural resources.

Ms. Vernon will discuss the path InterfaceFLOR follows to achieve sustainability on seven ambitious fronts:

1. Eliminate Waste: Eliminating all forms of waste in every area of business.

2. Benign Emissions: Eliminating all toxic emissions from products, vehicles and facilities, including air, water and material waste.

3. Renewable Energy: Operating facilities with renewable energy sources such as solar, wind, landfill gas, biomass, geothermal, tidal and low-impact/ small-scale hydroelectric or non-petroleum based hydrogen.

4. Closing the Loop: Redesigning processes and products to create a cyclical flow of materials, or a closed-loop system; this includes careful recycling of synthetic materials and ensuring that organic materials return uncontaminated to their natural systems.

5. Resource-Efficient Transportation: Transporting people and products efficiently to reduce waste and emissions.

6. Sensitizing Stakeholders: Creating a culture that integrates sustainability principles and improves the lives and livelihoods of employees, associates and their families, the communities in which we operate, customers, vendors, suppliers, stockholders and contractors.

7. Redesign Commerce: Creating a new business model that demonstrates and supports the value of sustainability-based commerce.

About the Presenter: Melissa Vernon
Melissa is the Director of Sustainable Strategy for InterfaceFLOR. She supports sales efforts as a Sustainability Expert and researches trends and opportunities in the green product market. She oversees the company’s image, messaging and presence at key environmental conferences. As a member of the Construction Specifications Institute’s GreenFormat Team, Melissa is developing a common reporting format and database for collecting and evaluating sustainable product information in.

Thank you to Tri North Builders for sponsoring this program.