Committed to Sustainability
We embrace our responsibility to make a positive impact on the people we serve, the products we bring to market, and the planet we are privileged to share. We continually adopt practices to help protect our environment and strengthen our organizational sustainability. We have also established philanthropic initiatives to support the well-being of our communities.
Sustainable Products
Our Living Green collection features environmentally friendly products in every category, from irons and pillows to bath and facial tissue. Look out for a green leaf, which indicates that the product is eco-friendly: made from recycled materials, is recyclable itself, or conserves energy, water and/or waste.
Look for the Living Green icon when shopping!
Measuring Up to Living Green
We use 26 established environmental certifications and standards and 28 different eco-friendly attributes to make sure that our Living Green products are sustainable. To learn more about our Living Green criteria:
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Ancient Forest Friendly | The Ancient Forest Friendly logo represents the highest ecological qualities in the paper industry. To be Ancient Forest Friendly, a paper must be manufactured with a high percentage of recycled fiber or agricultural residue. Any virgin fiber used in the paper must be Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified and must not originate from endangered forests. Bleaching must be chlorine free. Ancient Forest Friendly papers conserve intact forest ecosystems and their functions – such as climate stabilization, water regulation and species habitat. |
| BPI Certified | The Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) is a multi-stakeholder association of key individuals and groups from government, industry and academia, which promotes the use and recycling of biodegradable polymeric materials (via composting). |
| CEE Specification | Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE) specification is an advanced level of energy performance, higher than is normal in a market, for a residential, commercial, or industrial product or service. Specifications are meant to achieve superior energy efficiency without trade-offs in performance or quality. CEE is a nonprofit organization supporting administrators of energy efficiency programs who run efficiency programs that provide education about energy efficiency and may offer incentives to influence market activities. |
| CRI Green Label | Green Label ensures that customers are purchasing among the lowest emitting carpet, adhesive and cushion products on the market and to help specifiers identify products with very low emissions of VOCs. |
| CRI Green Label Plus | Green Label Plus program represents the fourth time the carpet industry has voluntarily enhanced the indoor air quality (IAQ) standard for its products. This enhanced program sets an even higher standard for IAQ and ensures that customers are purchasing the very lowest emitting products on the market. Using scientifically established standards, the Green Label Plus program symbolizes the carpet industry’s commitment to a better environment for living, working, learning and healing. Green Label Plus is an example of CRI’s leadership in the best practices of environmental responsibility. |
| CRI Seal of Approval/Green Label | The Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) combines the indoor air quality protection of its Green Label vacuum program with enhanced cleaning standards of its Seal of Approval programs to identify even better performing vacuum cleaners than the previous program. Under the Seal of Approval/Green Label vacuum program, manufacturers must meet higher performance standards and are rewarded with Gold, Silver or Bronze ratings. |
| ECOLOGO Certified | ECOLOGO Certified products, services and packaging are certified for reduced environmental impact. ECOLOGO certifications are voluntary, multi-attribute, lifecycle-based environmental certifications that indicate a product has undergone rigorous scientific testing, exhaustive auditing, or both, to prove its compliance with stringent, third-party, environmental performance standards. |
| ENERGY STAR Qualified | Meet strict energy performance standards set by EPA. They use less energy, are less expensive to operate, and cause fewer greenhouse gas emissions than their peers. |
| EPA compliant for recycled fiber content | EPA's Recovered Materials Advisory Notice (RMAN) recommends that procuring agencies establish minimum content standards expressed as a percentage of recovered fiber, including a percentage of post-consumer fiber. For most grades, EPA recommends post-consumer fiber content. Post-consumer fiber does not include newsstand returns or printer's overruns. |
| EPA Design for the Environment (DfE) | EPA allows safer products to carry the Design for the Environment (DfE) label. This mark enables consumers to quickly identify and choose products that can help protect the environment and are safer for families. |
| EPA WaterSense | WaterSense, a partnership program by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, seeks to protect the future of our nation's water supply by offering people a simple way to use less water with water-efficient products, new homes, and services. |
| Fair Trade Certified | Designed and audited to ensure equitable trade practices at every level of the supply chain. To earn a license from Fair Trade USA to use the Fair Trade Certified™ label on their products, companies must buy from certified farms and organizations, pay Fair Trade prices and premiums and submit to rigorous supply chain audits. |
| FSC Certified | The Forest Stewardship Council sets standards for forest products, independently certifies that these standards have been met, and bestows labels upon the products that qualify. Unlike recycled paper products, FSC-certified products are composed of virgin tree fibers rather than pre- or post-consumer recycled materials. FSC also certifies recycled content in paper products when origin can be verified. |
| Green Seal Certified | Green Seal certification ensures that a product meets rigorous, science-based leadership standards. This gives manufacturers the assurance to back up their claims and purchasers confidence that certified products are better for human health and the environment. |
| Green-e Certified | Green-e certifies environmental commodities and products that mitigate climate change and help build a sustainable energy future. |
| GREENGUARD Certified | Ensures that a product has met some of the world's most rigorous and comprehensive standards for low emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into indoor air. |
| level Certified | level™ is the multi-attribute, sustainability standard and third-party certification program for the furniture industry. It has been created to deliver an open and holistic means of evaluating and communicating the environmental and social impacts of furniture products in the built environment. Taking into account a company’s social actions, energy usage, material selection, human and ecosystem health, and numerous other impacts, level addresses how a product is sustainable from multiple perspectives. |
| OEKO-TEX Standard 100 | The OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 is an independent testing and certification system for textile raw materials, intermediate and end products at all stages of production. |
| PEFC Certified | Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) sets the highest standards for forest certification and sustainable forest management in line with society’s ever evolving understanding and expectations. |
| Processed Chlorine Free | The Chlorine-Free Products Association (CFPA) is an independent not-for-profit accreditation and standard setting organization. Their focus is promoting sustainable manufacturing practices, implementing advanced technologies free of chlorine chemistry, educating consumers on alternatives, and developing world markets for sustainability produced third party certified products and services. |
| Rainforest Alliance Certified | Awarded to farms and forestlands that meet the rigorous, third-party standards of the Sustainable Agriculture Network or the Forest Stewardship Council. Integrates biodiversity conservation, community development, workers’ rights and productive agricultural practices to ensure comprehensive sustainable farm management. |
| RoHS Compliant | RoHS, also known as Lead-Free, stands for Restriction of Hazardous Substances. The standard restricts the use of six hazardous materials found in electrical and electronic products: Lead, Mercury, Cadmium, Hexavalent Chromium, Polybrominated Biphenyls, and Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers. RoHS impacts the entire electronics industry and many electrical products as well. |
| STeP Certified | The objective of the Sustainable Textile Production (STeP) certification is the permanent implementation of environmentally friendly production processes and socially acceptable working conditions in production facilities along the textile chain. |
| Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) Certified | Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) certification under standards such as the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Z809, the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) address the ecological, economic and social aspects of SFM. |
| Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) Standard | Sustainable Forestry Initiative Standard promotes sustainable forest management in North America through 14 core principles that promote sustainable forest management, including measures to protect water quality, biodiversity, wildlife habitat, species at risk, and Forests with Exceptional Conservation Value. |
| USDA BioPreferred | The purpose of the USDA BioPreferred program is to promote the increased purchase and use of biobased products. The program spurs economic development, creating new jobs and providing new markets for farm commodities. The increased development, purchase, and use of biobased products reduces our Nation's reliance on petroleum, increases the use of renewable agriculture resources, and may contribute to reducing adverse environmental and health impacts. |
| Title | Description |
|---|---|
| Bamboo | A rapidly renewable resource. |
| Natural Cotton | Cotton that is manufactured without dyes or bleaching. |
| Organic Materials | Material is produced using cultural, biological, and mechanical methods, rather than using synthetic materials. |
| OXO Biodegradable Plastic | Degrades in the presence of oxygen and sunlight. |
| PEVA | A nontoxic, PVC-free, chlorine-free, biodegradable material. |
| Recycled Cotton | Material that has been reprocessed from recovered (reclaimed) materials. |
| Recycled Glass | Material that has been reprocessed from recovered (reclaimed) materials. |
| Recycled Paper | Material that has been reprocessed from recovered (reclaimed) materials. |
| Recycled Plant Fiber | Material that has been reprocessed from recovered (reclaimed) materials. |
| Recycled Plastic | Material that has been reprocessed from recovered (reclaimed) materials. |
| Recycled Steel | Material that has been reprocessed from recovered (reclaimed) materials. |
| BPA Free | Made without Bisphenol A (BPA), a common chemical in plastic. |
| CFC-Free Products | Made without chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), an organic compound that contains only carbon, chlorine, and fluorine, produced as a volatile derivative of methane, ethane, and propane. |
| Chemical Free Products | Made free of chemical substances. |
| Energy and Water Conservation | Products that help to reduce both the consumption of energy and water, either during the manufacturing process or when using the product itself. |
| Energy Conservation | Incorporates energy-efficient and renewable energy technologies, reducing energy consumption when designing, constructing, maintaining, and using energy-driven products. |
| Low-VOC / Zero-VOC | Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic chemicals which are emitted as gases from certain solids or liquids. VOCs include a variety of chemicals, some of which may have short- and long-term adverse health effects. VOCs are emitted by a wide array of products numbering in the thousands, including paints and lacquers, cleaning supplies, pesticides, building materials and furnishings, office equipment, and many more. Products with Low-VOC or Zero-VOC emissions provide a safer solution for people and the environment. |
| Made from Biodegradable Materials | Biodegradable simply means to be consumed by microorganisms and return to compounds found in nature. |
| Made from Organic Materials | Product has a minimum of 95% organic fiber content and 5% non-organic substances. |
| Made from Post-Consumer Materials | Material that has reached its intended end user which is no longer being used for its intended purpose. |
| Made from Pre-Consumer Materials | Material diverted from the waste stream during a manufacturing process that has never reached the end user. Excluded is the reutilization of materials generated in a process and capable of being reused as a substitute for a raw material without being modified in any way. |
| Made from Recovered Materials | Material that would have otherwise been disposed of as waste or used for energy recovery, but has instead been collected and recovered (reclaimed) as a material input, in lieu of new virgin material, for a recycling or manufacturing process. |
| Made from Recycled Materials | Material that has been reprocessed from recovered (reclaimed) material by means of a manufacturing process and made into a final product or into a component for incorporation into a product. |
| Made from Renewable Resources | A natural resource which can replenish with the passage of time, either through biological reproduction or other naturally recurring processes. |
| Paraben Free | Parabens are widely used as preservatives by cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries. They can be found in shampoos, commercial moisturizers, shaving gels, personal lubricants, topical/parenteral pharmaceuticals, spray tanning solution, makeup, and toothpaste. |
| PVC Free | Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic has become one of the most widely used types of plastics. It's used in packaging, home furnishings, building materials, hospital supplies, and hundreds of other products. PVC contaminates humans and the environment throughout its lifecycle, during its production, use, and disposal. PVC-free products protect human health and the environment. |
| Waste Reduction Program | Recycling of waste, reduces the amount of materials that need to be manufactured and, thus, reduces greenhouse gas emissions. By committing to reduce, reuse, and recycle, and by using more resource-efficient production practices and materials, we can reduce our environmental footprint, help with climate change and conserve our natural resources. |
| Water Conservation | This practice encompasses the policies, strategies and activities to manage fresh water as a sustainable resource to protect the water environment and to meet current and future human demand. |
