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Our Progress

Lean is Green.
What began in 1947 as the relentless pursuit of waste reduction had morphed into a formal environmental management program by the 1980s. In the 1990s we adopted lean manufacturing and settled on a new definition of waste: it’s anything that does not bring value to the customer.


What does bring value? Using only what we need. Conserving limited resources. Maximizing health and safety. These result in better products for our customers, better working conditions for our members and a better world for us all.

Fact - HON manufacturing locations recycled over 300 bales of fabric scrap in 2006 alone. This fabric scrap is ground into small pieces that are used to produce the liner inside of your car's trunk.

Fact - In 2006, HON manufacturing locations diverted over 2300 tons of sawdust from landfills, and made it available for use as an alternative fuel source.

Fact - HON's compression molding (Comold) process allows nearly 10,000 tons of postconsumer wood waste to be diverted from landfills every year. This, in turn, eliminates the need to consume 10,000 tons of virgin forest each year.

The bottom line: Less waste equals less cost. That makes our lean, green approach a good business decision as well as a smart environmental strategy.
 

PROVING WHAT WE SAY. 
The HON Company is among the first manufacturers to receive certification under the Scientific Certification System's Sustainable Choice™ program ensuring compliance with the new BIFMA Sustainability Standard.

Developed in response to the increasing demand for proof that manufacturers are living up to their environmental claims, BIFMA’s new Sustainability Standard provides measurable market-based definitions of progressively more sustainable furniture. 

The market is flooded with environmental marketing claims. Often the claims are hard to understand and difficult to link to actual product performance.  The BIFMA Sustainability Standard provides a common set of metrics for measuring the environmental aspects of office furniture; and a common language for reporting performance to end users.

The BIFMA Sustainability Standard establishes performance criteria in four key areas of sustainability:
1. Material and Resources
2. Energy and Atmosphere
3. Human and Ecosystem Impact
4. Social Responsibility

In June of 2008, Initiate Panel System achieved Silver level Sustainable Choice certification.  It is the goal of The HON Company to continue certifying additional products to the Sustainable Choice guidelines.

GROWING NEW IDEAS.
Nature CoreTM fiberboard is a nonwoven composite material made up of a blend of natural and synthetic fibers. The natural fiber is called kenaf, which is derived from an annually renewable plant related to cotton and okra. It's a remarkably fast-growing plant, rising to heights of 12 – 14 feet in as little as four to five months, and it can yield six to ten tons of dry fiber per acre, year after year.

Only The HON Company has been able to render kenaf suitable for panel system use. The kenaf fibers are combined with synthetic fibers and processed into roll goods. The roll goods are treated with our patented smoke- and flame-retardant applications to ensure the finished product meets UL Class "A" fire rating.

Nature Core Fiberboard Highlights:
  • Kenaf fibers are annually renewable
  • No formaldehyde is added
  • Fire retardant materials are natural
  • Structural performance that adds more durability to the panel system
  • Sound-blocking characteristics (STC) exceeding BIFMA standards for a more acoustic friendly environment
  • Tackable surface for a more efficient workplace

Nature Core Fiberboard Product Availability and Updates:

  • Initiate® tackable panels built with Nature Core fiberboard, used in combination with low-emitting worksurfaces, allow Initiate® to be the first panel system to meet the requirements for Indoor AdvantageTM Gold certification.
  • Nature Core fiberboard is now being offered in all Initiate tackable panels.
  • At present all worksurfaces are low-emitting.

DOWNLOAD NATURE CORE FACT SHEET (PDF)

As we progress, we will continue to provide updates on status and availability. 

CLEARING THE AIR.
In 2006, The HON Company became the world's first office furniture manufacturer to have products certified by the Indoor AdvantageTM program. Virtually all manufactured products emit chemical compounds into the air. Indoor Advantage evaluates these compounds to help improve the air quality within enclosed indoor environments.
Developed by Scientific Certification Systems (SCS), Indoor Advantage subjects products to the most rigorous indoor air quality standards in the United States. Further, Indoor Advantage tests individual components as well as overall assemblies, and provides detailed analysis of a comprehensive range of chemicals rather than a simple pass/fail for only the most common. This enables us to help our suppliers reduce the environmental impact of their products and processes, too.

SCS offers two levels of certification:

 
  • Indoor AdvantageTM certifies conformance with LEED-CI criteria for EQ4.5, as well as BIFMA X7.1 Low-Emitting Furniture and Seating.
  • Indoor Advantage GoldTM certifies additional conformance with California 01350 Special Environmental Requirements and Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS).


Indoor Advantage Gold is our goal for all products. Visit Scientific Certification Systems' Web site to learn more about Indoor Advantage.

Indoor Advantage Gold Certified Products:
Cubicals
- Initiate® Panel Systems - Initiate® workstations constructed with Nature CoreTM fiberboard and low emitting worksurfaces, qualify for Indoor AdvantageTM Gold level certification.

Files & Storage
- All Metal Storage and Files

Chairs
- 1080 Series Stacking Chairs
- 24 Hour Chairs (77X4 Series)
- 4051 Multi-Purpose Chair
- 5400 Series Seating
- 7700 Series Seating
- 7700 Series Seating 
- 7800 Series Seating
- Alaris™ Seating (4220 Series)
- Allure™ Seating (3300 Series)
- ComforTask® (5900 Series)
- Convergence® Contemporary Seating (4900 series)
- Every-Day® Chair (7900 Series)
- F3™ Series Seating
- Gamut® Seating (2070 Series)
- GuestStacker® (4030 Series)
- High Density Olson Stacker® (4040 Series)
- Olson Series
- Pagoda® (4070 Series)
- Park Avenue Collection® Seating (5020 Series, 5060 Series)
- Perpetual® Seating (4300 Series, PN Series)
- Pillow-Soft™ Seating (2090 Series)
- Proficiency™ 4-Leg Chairs (H101X Series)
- Pyramid™ Seating (3500 Series)
- Resolution® Seating (6200 Series)
- Sensible Seating® (6000 Seating)
- Solutions Seating® (4000 Series)
- Teacher/Student Shell Seating (TS Series)
- Tiempo® Seating (4600 Series)
- Unanimous® (7600 Series)
- ValuTask® (5831 Series)
 
Education
- AccomplishTM Classroom Furniture 
 

Indoor Advantage Certified Products:
Laminate Casegoods Workstations
- Park Avenue Collection®
- ValidoTM Series 
- 10500 Series
- 10600 Series
- 10700 Series
- 94000 Series

Wood Chairs
- 370 Series
- 2400 Series
- 2900 Series
- 6540 Series
- 6550 Series
- Invitation® Guest Wood Seating (2110 Series)
- Jackson Traditional Wood Seating (6570 Series)
- Meadowbrook® Traditional Wood Seating (6500 Series)
- Park Avenue Collection® Seating (5000 Series)
- Pillow-Soft®Executive Wood Seating (2191 Series)

CALL IT TREECYCLING.
Trees contribute more than just beauty to the world — they also reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide, increase available oxygen, filter air pollutants, decrease water pollutants, reduce flooding and more. While trees are renewable resources, they're also relatively slow growing. That's why The HON Company has taken steps to reduce the number of trees that must be cut down to create our products.

Rather than newly harvested wood, we use postconsumer wood waste for many seating components. Basically, we're recycling wood that has already been used for other products and is now being discarded after completing its intended use. We use a compression molding process to form this wood waste into usable "boards." This process, called Comold, enables us to save 5,000 acres of virgin forest and divert nearly 10,000 tons of wood waste from landfills — every single year.

OLD PAINT MADE NEW AGAIN.
The HON Company's waste-reduction efforts extend to the paint we use on our products. Our powdercoat finishes are applied in a special chamber that continuously collects unused paint particles and loops them back into an electrostatic spray gun. Paint particles that remain at the end of each project are saved and combined with other paint particle colors to create black paint.

HON manufacturing locations recycled over 50,000 gallons of wet paint in 2006. Over 30,000 gallons of this recycled wet paint was used on site.

SHODDY THINKING.
The HON Company minimizes fabric waste by using precise, computer-guided cutting machines. Nonetheless, fabric scraps are inevitable. We collect our scrap fabric and turn it over to a company that shreds it for use in "shoddy" — a fibrous material predominately used as a trunk liner in the automotive industry.

In 2006, we recycled more than 300 bales of fabric scraps — keeping more than 300,000 lbs. of fabric waste out of landfills.

BULKING UP.
Over 136 million tons of construction and demolition debris is generated annually by U.S. construction alone.

For years, The HON Company has been working to reduce the amount of packing material delivered to customer sites. Our bulk packing option consumes fewer raw materials and decreases shipping amount of material our customers must recycle or send to landfills.
 

SOY TRUE.
The HON Company has introduced soy-based foam to more than half of its total seating line.   Soy-based foam is used on many of the most popular chair lines including Pillow-Soft™, Alaris™ and Perpetual®.  Up to 10 percent of the total foam used in these chairs is made with soy-based oil.  Soy foam manufacturers note that soy foam leaves a smaller environmental footprint than its petroleum-based counterpart because it is made partially from plant-based oils, known as polyol, rather than petroleum chemicals.  The use of soy foam leads to reductions in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and energy used to produce the material over prior petroleum based foams used in furniture.