Herman Miller Aeron Stool User Manual

Y

Our sustainability goals by the year 2020:

• Zero carbon footprint

• Zero landfill

• Zero hazardous waste generation

• Zero air emissions (VOCs)

• Zero process water use

• 100 percent renewable electrical energy use via renewable
energy credits and a power purchase agreement

• Company buildings constructed to a minimum LEED Silver certification

• 100 percent of sales from DfE approved products

Environmental Product Summary

Aeron® Chair

Design Story: Shifting Paradigms

Herman Miller’s Aeron chair rewrote the book on office
seating with its distinctive look and high-performance
design. In addition to its well-known ergonomic and
functional qualities, Bill Stumpf and Don Chadwick
designed the Aeron chair to be sparing of natural
resources, durable and repairable, and constructed for
ease of disassembly and recycling.

From its earliest developmental stages, the Aeron’s
raw material selection and sourcing process emphasized
environmental friendliness, with a preference for
renewable, sustainable, and recycled source materials.

Herman Miller’s Design Protocol

Our commitment to corporate sustainability naturally
includes minimizing the environmental impact of each
of our products. Our Design for Environment team (DfE)
applies environmentally sensitive design standards to
both new and existing Herman Miller products.

The DfE Design Protocol goes beyond regulatory
compliance to thoroughly evaluate new product
designs in four 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?

• LCA—Have we optimized the product based on the
entire life cycle?

level® Certification

Aeron is level 3 certified. The level conformance mark
ensures a comprehensive, independent, and impartial

assessment of the environmental and social impacts
of a product.

Global GreenTag

Aeron is Global GreenTag
certified. Global GreenTag

CertTM

GreenRate Certified

CertTM

GreenRate Level A

CertTM

is an Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC)
approved National Certification Mark, an ISO compliant
ecolabel and Green Building Councils of Australia
and New Zealand recognized third party certifier.
GreenTag GreenRate certification enables products
to be allocated Level A, B or C in the Green Building
Council of Australia (GBCA) and New Zealand GBC’s
Green StarTM tools and certify both VOC and
formaldehyde (composite wood) credits.

Cradle to Cradle Certified

CM

Aeron is Cradle to Cradle CertifiedCM Silver. This means
that Aeron has been evaluated for its material health,
and is designed for material reuse in a closed loop
system, such as recycling or composting. It is assembled
using 100% renewable energy.

Material Content

The Aeron chair’s components are constructed from
aluminum, steel, plastic, and foam/textile.

ALUMINUM 34%

STEEL 31%

PLASTIC 31%

FOAM/TEXTILE/OTHER 4%

® Y and Z and Aeron are among the registered trademarks of Herman Miller, Inc.
Cradle to Cradle CertifiedCM is a certification mark licensed by the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute.
® level is a trademark of BIFMA International.

z 1

Global GreenTag
National Certification Mark.
® GREENGUARD is a registered trademark of the GREENGUARD Environmental Institute.
© 2012 Herman Miller, Inc., Zeeland, Michigan

CertTM

is an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) approved

Y

Environmental Product Summary

Aeron™ Chair

The Aeron chair is up to 94 percent recyclable at the
end of its useful life.

Aeron is comprised of up to 54-percent recycled
materials. This figure breaks down to 32-percent
to 33-percent post-consumer recycled content and
21-percent to 22-percent pre-consumer recycled
content.

Graphite or Titanium Base/Frame

POST-CONSUMER
RECYCLED CONTENT 32%

PRE-CONSUMER
RECYCLED CONTENT 21%

Polished Aluminum Base/Frame

POST-CONSUMER
RECYCLED CONTENT 33%

plastic bag. These materials are part of a closed­loop recycling system, meaning they can be recycled
repeatedly.

– Whenever possible, shipments between

Herman Miller and its suppliers include the use
of pallets and other returnable packaging to
minimize waste.

–On large North American orders, disposable

packaging can be replaced with reusable
shipping blankets.

Manufacturing Process

• Renewable energy and Emissions—The Aeron chair

is manufactured at Herman Miller’s GreenHouse
seating operations in West Michigan using 100
percent renewable energy via renewable energy
credits and a power purchase agreement. No air or
water emissions are released in Aeron’s production.

• The GreenHouse is also a LEED Pioneer building.

• ISO—The GreenHouse is within the scope of

Herman Miller’s ISO 14001 certified environmental
management system.

• Worker Health and Safety—Herman Miller strives to

meet or exceed OHSA standards. The GreenHouse
is within the scope of Herman Miller’s OHSAS 18001
certified safety management system.

Product Performance

PRE-CONSUMER
RECYCLED CONTENT 22%

• Easy assembly for cost-efficiency and quick parts

replacement.

• Easy disassembly for recyclability.

• Designed for durability, an important environmental

criterion.

• Die-cast aluminum components are typically made

• Backed by Herman Miller’s 12-year, 24/7 warranty.

from more than 95-percent recycled material and
are 100 percent recyclable.

• Steel components contain approximately 35 percent
recycled content and are 100 percent recyclable.

• Aeron work chairs and stools contain no PVC.

Indoor Air Quality

The Aeron chair is GREENGUARD® certified as a low­emitting product that meets current indoor air quality
standards.

• Most metal components have a powder-coat paint
finish that emits negligible volatile organic compounds
(VOCs).

• Plastic components are identified with an ASTM
recycling code whenever possible, to aid in returning
these materials to the recycling stream.

Corporate Environmental Policy

For more information on Herman Miller’s Corporate
Environmental Policy and other environmental
efforts, visit the “Environmental Advocacy” section of
HermanMiller.com.

• Foam and textile materials are part of an open-loop
system and can be recycled into everything from
automotive components to carpet padding at the
end of their current life.

• Returnable/Recyclable Packaging—Packaging materials
include corrugated cardboard and a polyethylene

z 2

Supplier Support

At Herman Miller, we are committed to working closely
with our suppliers to reduce our collective impact on the
environment. We not only encourage our suppliers to
minimize their operations’ environmental impacts but

® Y and Z and Aeron are among the registered trademarks of Herman Miller, Inc.
Cradle to Cradle CertifiedCM is a certification mark licensed by the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute.
® level is a trademark of BIFMA International.
Global GreenTag
National Certification Mark.
® GREENGUARD is a registered trademark of the GREENGUARD Environmental Institute.
© 2012 Herman Miller, Inc., Zeeland, Michigan

CertTM

is an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) approved