A Better World Report

In March 2011, Steve Jackson, Commercial Environmental Manager, represented Herman Miller at the Social Innovation Awards in London. The audience included executives from well-known companies like Coca Cola, Cisco, Nokia, and Nestle. Steve was glad that in 2010 we reached 91% of our goal to have a zero operational footprint by 2020. He was surprised that Herman Miller was the only nominee in the Sustainability Performance category that night in London's financial district. The judges said in introducing Steve and Herman Miller that we were the clear winner. Now let's go after that remaining bit.

Climate Change and Carbon Footprint

For FY 2011 we continued to use 100% renewable electrical energy in all our facilities world-wide by purchasing certified Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) and continuing a long-term Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with our local electric provider.

Last year, we added a goal of being carbon neutral by 2020 (Scopes 1 and 2) to our Perfect Vision goals. This will not be an easy goal for us to reach, and we will have to stretch our capabilities to get there. For fiscal 2011, we achieved a 72% reduction in our carbon footprint against our goal of a 65% reduction based on use of RECs and the PPA.

Energy Conservation

Energy reduction projects resulted in a net decrease in electrical energy and natural gas use last year. Included in the energy numbers are all leased facilities and facilities accounted for in our carbon footprint calculations. This is the second year publicly reporting our emissions through the Carbon Disclosure Project.

Operational Footprint

Fiscal year 2011 brought about some challenges with regard to our sustainability goals. As we get closer to our zero footprint goals, we get closer to facing the final 10% reduction, by far the most difficult to achieve. Additionally, our strong sales volume this past year drove up material usage and energy consumption. Our overall environmental footprint reduction goal for fiscal year 2011 was 92 percent. While we only reached 88 percent of that goal this year, we believe that we have the programs in place to meet our 2013 milestones and 2020 goals launched in 2004.

VOC Emissions to Air

Between 1994 and 2011 Herman Miller recorded more than an 81% decline in VOC emissions. We also track our nitrogen oxide (NOx) and sulfur oxide (SOx) emissions at our Energy Center (where we burn scrap wood to create energy) even though we do not include them in our 2020 goals.

Process Water Use and Quality

Meeting our 2020 goal for process water consumption in manufacturing is among our greatest environmental challenges, and we are determined to get there. Although our reduction to baseline slipped from 82% to 75% last year, we maximize the reuse of process water throughout various manufacturing operations. We continue to investigate the most current technologies to help us meet our goal of zero process water use.

Solid Waste to Landfill

Our goal is to deposit no solid waste in landfills by 2020. Our landfill waste continues to drop from the 1993/1994 baseline. We moved from a 91.9% to a 90% reduction during this past fiscal year.

Our Buildings

Architecture and architects are important to us and to our business. We helped form the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and our 1995 GreenHouse building won LEED Pioneer status in light of its environmentally sound, aesthetically pleasing, and financially beneficial qualities. In fact we strive to have all our facilities achieve a minimum of LEED Silver.

The rePurpose Program

Our rePurpose program provides new life for no-longer-needed office furniture and other items in a socially responsible, economically viable way. We take used office furniture from our customers and match it with non-profit groups.

Design for the Environment Initiative (DfE)

Designing our products with consideration for their environmental impact is a central corporate strategy. We're focused on incorporating environmentally sustainable materials, features, and manufacturing processes into our new product designs.

Recycled Content

Since we try to incorporate recycled materials into all of our products, we carefully monitor each product's weight and the percentage of recycled content used. We work to balance a high percentage of recycled content with our desire to provide the most environmentally safe materials.

Sustainable Wood

We acquired Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) chain of custody certification at our Zeeland Main Site manufacturing facility in 2007. We can offer FSC-certified products in a variety of laminate and veneer work surfaces and tables.

ecoScorecard

Last year, Herman Miller became the first large contract furniture manufacturer to incorporate ecoScorecard into its product catalog. Herman Miller ecoScorecard is a free, web-based technology platform providing environmental information and sustainability documentation about products for all major green building rating systems. We continue to expand our product catalogue to help customers make informed choices.

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