ZEELAND, MI - Herman Miller Inc., looking to be a better member of the community and steward of the planet, has launched Earthright, a new sustainability strategy.

The Earthright initiative outlines Herman Miller's six 10-year commitments, including:

     • Achieve zero waste from all facilities;

     • Consume 50 percent less water (30 million gallons);

     • Reduce energy intensity by 50 percent;

     • Increase local renewables by 50 percent 100 percent DfE-approved products 100 percent level 3 certified products;

     • Divert 125,000 tons of product/year; and

     • Engage suppliers and employees to help create a Better World, the title of Herman Miller's annual environmental report.

“To continue to be a leader in this area we must evolve our environmental goals and programs, and set ambitious targets to shoot for,” said Brian Walker, CEO of Herman Miller. “With our Earthright strategy we’re not only renewing our commitment to environmental advocacy, we’re extending our work to the entire Herman Miller community.”

Herman Miller said the Earthright strategy begins with the following three guiding principles:

Positive Transparency: Herman Miller will share an unprecedented amount of information about the impacts for which the company is responsible. They will also share their point of view on human and environmental health and, more important, what they are doing to transform their business from a net consumer to a net producer of resources.

Products as Living Things: Herman Miller will create better products and design processes to protect people’s health and well-being, restore the ecosystem, and give back more than they extract. The company will do this by applying regenerative design principles.

Greener Together: Herman Miller knows it cannot solve these problems by itself. Instead the company has determined it must engage the entire community including employees, customers, suppliers, dealers, salespeople, and the public.

“Our Earthright strategy provides a framework for smarter resource management, but more importantly, it challenges us to rethink how we design our products, processes, and places to create a better world,” said Gabe Wing, Herman Miller’s Director of Safety and Sustainability. “We know that if we can inspire even a small portion of our community to make changes, big things can happen.”

Herman Miller, with $1.8 billion in revenues in 2013, manufactures office and healthcare furniture.