Herman Miller Action Office System - Environmental Product Summary - Manual

Our sustainability goals by the year 2020:
• Zero carbon footprint
• Zero landfill
• Zero hazardous waste generation
• Zero air emissions (VOCs)
• Zero process water use
• 100 percent renewable electrical energy use via renewable
energy credits and a power purchase agreement
• Company buildings constructed to a minimum
LEED Silver certification
• 100 percent of sales from DfE approved products
Environmental Product Summary
Action Office ® System
Design Story: World’s First, Built to Last
Herman Miller introduced Action Office in 1968. As
the world’s first open-plan office furniture system,
Action Office was designed to provide customers with
a strong, simple, and durable product that would last.
All Action Office components serve a function,
with nothing added simply for show. Components
manufactured today are compatible with the original
generation, even as every effort is made to introduce
improvements that will increase the long-term value,
durability, and environmental friendliness of the product.
Herman Miller’s Design Protocol
Our commitment to corporate sustainability naturally
includes minimizing the environmental impact of each
of our products. Our Design for Environment team (DfE)
applies environmentally sensitive design standards to
both new and existing Herman Miller products.
Our DfE Protocol goes beyond regulatory compliance to
thoroughly evaluate new product designs in four key
areas:
• Material Chemistry and Safety of Inputs—
What chemicals are in the materials we specify, and
are they the safest available?
• Disassembly—Can we take products apart at the
end of their useful life, to recycle their materials?
• Recyclability—Do the materials contain recycled
content, and more importantly, can the materials be
recycled at the end of the product’s useful life?
• LCA—Have we optimized the product based on the
entire life cycle?
level ® Certification
Action Office is certified level 1. The level conformance
mark ensures a comprehensive, independent, and
impartial assessment of the environmental and social
impacts of a product.
Material Content
Action Office’s components are constructed from wood,
steel, plastic, aluminum, and other materials.
Action Office is up to 35 percent recyclable at the
end of its useful life.
The typical Action Office system set-up is comprised
of
40-percent recycled content. This figure breaks
down to 9-percent post-consumer and 31-percent
pre-consumer content.
• Most Action Office square-edged
laminate and veneer work surfaces may
be ordered as FSC
® certified products.
• Steel components contain approximately
35 percent recycled content and are 100
percent recyclable.
z
1
Y
® Y and Z and Action Office are among the registered trademarks of Herman Miller, Inc.
® level is a trademark of BIFMA International.
Only the products that are identified as such on this document are FSC® certified.
® GREENGUARD is a registered trademark of the GREENGUARD Environmental Institute.
© 2012 Herman Miller, Inc., Zeeland, Michigan
WOOD 53%
STEEL 32%
PLASTIC 6%
ALUMINUM 2%
OTHER 7%
PRE-CONSUMER
RECYCLED CONTENT 31%
POST-CONSUMER
RECYCLED CONTENT 9%