UK-based Ethical Corporation magazine recognized Interface, Inc. Chairman Ray Anderson with a Lifetime Achievement honour at their Responsible Business Summit 2010.
Ray accepted in absentia, saying to the award committee: “I am honoured, certainly on my own behalf, but also on behalf of the 4,000 Interface people around the globe who have taken my aspirations for Interface to heart and are working every day to realize them.”
Ethical Corporation’s selection of Ray for this honour is described on their website as follows:
“This former CEO and now Chairman is a living legend in the sustainability world. Long an inspiration for CEOs, managers and activists all over the planet, he is known in environmental circles for his advanced and progressive stance on industrial ecology and sustainability.1 Since 1995, he has reduced his company's waste by a third, and plans to make the company sustainable by 2020.
In his business he has increased sales and doubled profits while turning the traditional "take / make / waste" industrial system on its head. He says the company is more than 60% towards this goal. he is founder and chairman of the world's largest manufacturer of modular carpet for commercial and residential applications and a leading producer of commercial broadloom and commercial fabrics. For instance, under his leadership, his company seeks to reduce and then eliminate petroleum from its manufacturing processes. He calls himself a "recovering plunderer", and defines sustainability as "taking nothing from the earth that is not rapidly and naturally renewable, and doing no harm to the biosphere."
