The Clean and Green Club

By Shel Horowitz

How many companies did their first environmental impact report in 1953?

That’s when the well-known office furniture company Herman Miller began reporting its environmental progress. The 100-year-old company came to my attention through an article by CEO Brian C. Walker in Harvard Business Review, on Greening the Supply Chain. And this is remarkable in itself; while most companies are just beginning to grapple with sustainable measures within their own confines, Herman Miller has not only made a huge effort to get its vendors –both domestic and international–in line, but is teaching other companies.

Going to the company’s website, I see good links on the home page:
What we believe (with eight subsections, some of which have another layer as well)
The environment (11 subsections, including Green buildings, cradle-to-cradle and LEED certification, and even a recommended reading list!), and diversity, among others.

The environmental section notes,

Our values are the basis for Herman Miller’s corporate community. One of the nine things that matter most to us is called “A Better World.” For us, contributing to a better world takes many forms–environmental advocacy, volunteering time and contributing to nonprofit groups, acting as a good corporate citizen.

It also lists nine separate corporate teams involved in Herman Miller’s environmental responsibility activities.

In his follow-up comments (same URL), Walker points out that he and several competitors have joined forces with the Michigan Department of Corrections to train inmates in a furniture component recycling pilot program, and is looking at technology to better monitor chemical content, and to replace more toxic materials like PVC with more environmentally friendly alternatives.

For more business ethics and sustainability success stories, please see Shels award-winning book, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First