Herman Miller Mirra Chairs - Seating Material Content and Recyclability - Manual

Mirra ™ Seating Material Content and Recyclability
Design Story
The German design group Studio 7.5, based in Berlin, designed the Mirra chair. Studio
7.5’s principals are experts at observing how workers interact with their environments
and finding ways to make that interaction more organic. The Mirra chair is a product of
their collective imagination and talent.
Designing products with consideration for their environmental impact is a central corpo-
rate strategy of Herman Miller. The Mirra chair was the first Herman Miller product to be
evaluated using the McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBCD) Cradle to Cradle
Design Protocol.
The MBDC protocol goes beyond regulatory compliance to thoroughly evaluate new
product designs in three 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?
Among the Mirra materials that come from nonrenewable sources (petrochemicals and
metals), 42 percent are made from recycled materials. The chair contains no polyvinyl
chloride (PVC). And, 96 percent of Mirra’s materials can be recycled at the end of its use-
ful life.
Manufacturing Process
The Mirra chair consists of more than 65 different components and subassemblies from
more than 18 direct suppliers. These components are constructed from variations of four
major material categories: aluminum, plastic, steel, and foam/fabric.
Aluminum
The aluminum components, which compose seven percent of the chair, can be segregat-
ed and returned into the recycling stream to be made into the same or other compo-
nents.