The New York Times is carrying a story on Ray Anderson and his quest to take his carpet tile company, Interface, to new heights of efficiency and sustainability. His company generates $1.1 billion in sales, making it the biggest carpet tile (a.k.a. modular carpet) maker in the world. Moreover, he's out to disprove that there's a tradeoff between the environment and the economy.

"Oh, yay, carpeting. How exciting..." you're thinking (complete with eye roll). Well, money talks, which is why I'll leave you with this one nugget before you go read the article (registration required) and view the informative video.

He says Interface sustainability efforts have saved the company more than $336 million since 1995.

Not too shabby!

Of course, it helped that he controlled a majority of voting shares, basically making his word law. Nevertheless, it's a fascinating study of how a business can surmount some big hurdles and still emerge a cleaner organization with benefits that even extend to the bottom line.

Here's more info on Interface's sustainability efforts.

[via Wired Blog Network]