Interface, which publicly issued a Mission Zero promise 20 years ago to eliminate any negative effect the manufacturing of its carpet tiles has on the environment by 2020, recently received two sustainability honors. The Architizer A+ Awards cited Interface’s Net-Works initiative with its Popular Choice Award in the Products + Sustainability category, and the International Green Industry Hall of Fame (IGIHOF) named the company for induction.
The A+ awards, hailed as the definitive architectural award program, received entries from more than 100 countries in 60+ categories, with the global A+D community casting votes online over a three-week period in March. Net-Works is a business partnership between Interface, the Zoological Society of London, and Aquafil, and was created to tackle the environmental problem of discarded fishing nets in some of the world’s poorest coastal communities while supporting Interface’s ambitious goals for recycled content for its carpet tile. The program was launched in 2012 with 26 fishing villages based in the Philippines and continues to be a successful fair trade business model. It even helped keep those locations viable in the aftermath of the 2013 typhoon. Architizer will host a Gala for honorees at New York City’s HighLine Stages on May 15.