Interface: Net-Works (making waste beautiful)

~ ~ Laura

 

I had the honor of talking recently with Erin Meezan, the Vice President of Sustainability for Interface. Her passion for her work and the positive impact on the large breadth of people touched was truly inspiring.

Interface are leaders in the industry showing that fully integrated sustainability is not merely a theoretical idea, but can be tangibly accomplished and perpetuated within a business.  They transparently report on their ecological footprint, including progress in: Energy, Climate, Waste, and Transportation.

Looking for a way to reduce the environmental impact of nylon even further, they launched Net-Works.

“Net-Works enables local residents to collect discarded nets, which wreak havoc with the marine ecosystem, and sell them back into a global supply chain – giving those destructive, broken nets a second life as beautiful and long-lasting carpet tile. The product of an unlikely partnership, the Net-Works programme is proof that when business, conservation, and communities innovate together, we can create positive, sustainable change.”  

This initiative is not only lowering their impact, but also infusing local economies, while helping to clean up coastal environments. In the first 2 years, Net-Works has expanded to reach to 24 communities, with over 4,000 people benefiting from alternative income, and more than 35 metric tonnes of waste nets have been salvaged and turned into carpet tiles.

I can only begin to imagine how this world would change, if more companies looked for win-win solutions that not only positively impacted their bottom line – but also people and the world we live in.

Can you think of innovative win-win solutions you could apply to the work you are currently doing? Please share below!

 

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30 thoughts on “Interface: Net-Works (making waste beautiful)”

  1. So great to see people coming together with innovative ideas. You are an inspiration as always. Thank you.
    Mary

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  4. Pingback: Project Drawdown – substantiative solutions to Climate Change | ~ L to the Aura ~
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  7. Thanks for stopping by and giving Evolution Made Easier a follow. I always appreciate when someone does that, plus it helps me find out what they’re up to, like this great post of yours. Love, love, love this Net-Works project…actually seems like a win-win-win-win (and maybe even another win :-)) to me. Will post on Facebook and feature as a tip/link in an upcoming EME post.

    p.s. Am giving you a follow, which is rare….not because there aren’t a lot of great blogs out there, but I’m so busy w/ my own stuff I really don’t have much time for reading other stuff. But I really like what you’re sharing here and feel it will be very beneficial for me to know about and often pass along to others. Keep up the good work!

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  8. A very nice and informative write ups about turning waste into a profitable one. There are so many waste product seems useless but thru the bright ideas of others, it can be turn into another product that can be utilize still. Thanks for this.

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  11. Recycling the nets is a wonderful idea especially considering their size. It’s fascinating to see the changes in approach to how we interact with our environment. When I was younger, the disposable society mentality was still in full swing. The only recycling I recall in those days was for pop bottles and aluminum cans along with a lot of environmentally unfriendly items being thrown into the trash. We’ve come along way since then and I see new thinking being put into motion already such as with California making changes in regards to plastic bag usage. Great post by the way.

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  12. Wonderful story and superbly written! We repurpose political signs into solar light kits. We teach youth how to create the lights and expose them to global energy poverty and environmental issues whole connecting them with a child or family in the developing world that lives without access to electricity. Can you help us share the word and clean up our neighborhoods?

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  13. I’m afraid that not enough people care about our world if it means them having to give something up or it cuts into their bottom line. When everybody wakes up, it may be too late. Thanks for sharing and for stopping by.

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  16. I love this stuff–makes so much more sense to reuse things instead of tossing them into the world and hoping they’d somehow disappear when we all know most of them do not … (just look at the floating garbage in the Pacific…). I am reminded of the use of tires for flower beds and fences; the use of re-purposed fishing nets for protecting vegetable gardens from chomping wildlife, building walls from plastic bottles (beautiful adobes but also great for cheap and easy fences), and so on.

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