Ray Anderson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Ray Anderson is founder and chairman of Interface Inc., the world's largest manufacturer of modular carpet for commercial and residential applications and a leading producer of commercial broadloom and commercial fabrics. He is "known in environmental circles for his advanced and progressive stance on industrial ecology and sustainability."Since 1995, he has reduced Interface's waste by a third, and plans to make the company sustainable by 2020.

He defines sustainability as "taking nothing from the earth that is not rapidly and naturally renewable, and doing no harm to the biosphere."

For instance, under his leadership, Interface seeks to reduce and then eliminate "petroleum from its manufacturing processes." He is pioneering recycling efforts with nylon and polyester which "is recyclable, leading to more closed loop technologies for the future." However, Anderson wasn't always a friend of the environment. He had his epiphany in 1994 when he read The Ecology of Commerce, by Paul Hawken, who argues that [the] industrial system is destroying the planet and only industry leaders are powerful enough to stop it.