Adjustable height workstations at Glaxo Smith Kline’s new office at the Philadelphia Navy YardBig players in the global workplace interior manufacturing game have the potential to create big waste. Not so for Haworth, a family-owned interior furnishings supplier known for a commitment to sustainability that has included a goal of achieving zero-waste-to-landfill (ZWTL) status globally, meaning no byproducts from production processes would end up in a landfill. By 2009, Haworth had attained ZWTL in North America and Asia-Pacific, and by 2012, when the company’s Portuguese facilities successfully diverted all waste from landfill, they declared company-wide success.
Haworth also works with their manufacturers to test and improve the Health Product Declaration (HPD) Open Standard, a voluntary format for disclosing product content and related health concerns that are typically not reported even when a product, or a building, is certified “green.” Haworth strives to use materials that contain zero chemicals on the HPD list of hazardous chemicals that would negatively affect a building’s environment or occupants.
“Haworth changed the way products are sourced so that only materials with non-harmful ingredients make the cut,” says Nicole Carville, Philadelphia-based Architecture and Design Market Manager at Haworth. “Hayworth… demanded product manufacturing transparency and sustainability, and changed design for the better.”
An example of Haworth’s product facilitation work can be seen at the new Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) office building (LEED Double Platinum) in the Navy Yard. Each GSK employee works at a custom height-adjustable bench desk, now the company’s global standard, designed by Francis Kauffman and facilitated by Haworth. Currently located at 1315 Walnut St. Suite 800, Haworth’s brand new Philadelphia showroom will open at 1700 Market Street in January.
by Julianne Mesaric
