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EPA Recognizes Herman Miller

The manufacturer's Cella office chair is easily disassembled and 99 percent recyclable.

Mairi Beautyman -- Interior Design, 10/12/2005 12:00:00 AM

Over the past four years, Herman Miller has made strides to become a sustainable leader in the manufacturing industry. To acknowledge these efforts, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WasteWise program has presented the office systems manufacturer with its 2005 Product Stewardship Gold Achievement Award in the Design category and an Honorable Mention in the Large Business category.

WasteWise, a voluntary partnership program designed to help organizations save money by reducing and managing their solid waste, took particular note of Herman Miller’s Design for the Environment (DfE) program, responsible for the company’s development, implementation, and management of environmentally sensitive product design standards. The DfE team, using the Cradle to Cradle protocol developed by McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, evaluates new and existing products based on their material chemistry, ease of disassembly, recyclability, and recycled content. In 2001, Herman Miller became the first in its industry to adopt “Cradle to Cradle” criteria for all new products.

The DfE program produces the likes of Mirra, an office chair, introduced in 2003. Composed of 42 percent recycled material, and itself 96 percent recycleable, Mirra contains no polyvinyl chloride (PVC), and is produced using alternative “green” energy. Herman Miller’s newest Cradle-to Cradle product is the Cella task chair, composed of 33 percent recycled content. PVC-free Cella is 99 percent recyclable, can be disassembled in less than five minutes, and is produced using alternative energy.

The WasteWise Honorable Mention, for the manufacturer's recycling efforts in 2004, recognizes its corporate-wide initiative to keep materials out of landfills and incinerators by boosting recycling efforts. In 2004 alone, Herman Miller recycled more than 2.3 million pounds of corrugated cardboard, 11.6 million pounds of steel, and 3.1 million pounds of mixed plastics.

“We remain committed to the WasteWise program’s goals, which not coincidentally support our own drive to become a fully sustainable enterprise by 2020,” says Herman Miller environmental affairs director Paul Murray.

Awards will be bestowed at the WasteWise 2005 Annual Conference, October 24-25 in Washington, D.C.