Knoll and the Environment
– Andrew Cogan, Knoll CEO
Each year Knoll sponsors an Environmental, Health and Safety Art Contest at the Upper Perkiomen Middle School in East Greenville, PA. Some of the winning entries, chosen by professional artists, illustrate this page.
Knoll and Sustainable Design
Sustainability is a process that embodies a vision for the future. It is measured by what is sometimes called “the triple bottom line”—the social, economic and environmental outcomes of business on people, economic competitiveness and the natural world.
Climate Change
We work on meaningful approaches to conserve energy, promote the use of renewable energy sources and divert waste from landfill. Through our Energy Management Program we have established an energy baseline for manufacturing processes; energy conservation techniques; a framework for evaluating energy reduction opportunities; guidelines for capital investments in energy projects; energy pricing and supply risk reduction protocols; programs to increase energy efficiency in Knoll products; and a transportation energy reduction program.
Climate Change Continued
Our carbon disclosure reduction strategy focuses on many elements: product design in tandem with lifecycle assessment (LCA) methodology to aid in the selection of materials; facilities design with concert with LEED® guidelines in constructing, renovating and retrofitting facilities; and supply chain metrics for CO2 reduction against processing steel, processing wood and assembling products.
Third Party Certification
We have been an industry pioneer in advocating and submitting our products for independent third party certification. We believe that respected third parties provide the most impartial and trustworthy foundation for broad compliance.
Knoll and level®
The level standard is a voluntary product standard developed by BIFMA, the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer’s Association, to support safe, healthy and sustainable workplace environments. The program establishes prerequisites, requires third party certification including audits of manufacturing plants and mandates annual reviews to maintain certifications. Certification is awarded at three levels: Entry level 1 (32-44 points); level 2 (45-62 points) and level 3 (63 -90 points).
We submit our products for level 3 certification, the highest rating, and we are proud that we have achieved level 3 certification for all of our principal workplace product lines.
Open Plan and Private Office Furniture: Antenna Workspaces, AutoStrada, Dividends Horizon, Equity, Morrison, Reff Profiles
Seating: Chadwick, Generation by Knoll, Life, Moment, ReGeneration by Knoll, MultiGeneration by Knoll
Knoll and FSC®
The Forest Stewardship Council® (FSC) is the international standard setting organization for defining and measuring a well-managed forest and providing traceability though a chain of custody certification. Knoll FSC certification (FSC® C028824) ensures that Knoll products bearing the FSC mark are manufactured with wood from forests that protect environmental, social and economic values. FSC principles represent the industry’s most rigorous standards of forest stewardship.
Our FSC Certified Standard Program covers all general office plan open systems, casegoods and tables, with the exception of certain products from the KnollStudio Collection. The standard applies to the core of all Knoll products with laminate and domestic cherry, maple, oak and walnut.
Knoll and SMaRT©
SMaRT (Sustainable Materials Rating Technology) from MTS (Market Transformation to Sustainability) is a comprehensive sustainability standard covering areas. The standard encompasses Public Health and Environment; Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency; Bio-based or Recycled Materials and Innovations in Manufacturing.
Knoll has achieved SMaRT certifications for the Generation family of chairs; Chadwick, Life and Moment chairs as well as Calibre storage and Template workplace furniture.
Knoll and Full Circle®
Full Circle is an exclusive resource recovery program developed with ANEW, a non-profit organization dedicated to extending the life cycle of surplus furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E), architectural materials, and building assets in an economically, socially and environmentally responsible way.
We have completed 36 Full Circle projects, diverting over 1700 tons of used furniture and other items from landfill through matches to community charities, recycling and energy from-waste. Projects range from a major financial institution, to a large beverage company, to a major utility company,as well as universities and municipalities.
The Full Circle partners with Coventa Energy, which owns and/or operates more than 40 Energy-from-Waste facilities in the U.S. that produce lean, renewable energy and recycle metals. Learn more
Design for the Environment
In everything we design and manufacture, we focus on environmentally responsible materials, products and – and we build the infrastructure to strategically support sustainability in all aspects of our operation.
