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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
Aside
®
Chair
Design Story: Style that’s Smartly Sustainable
Mark Goetz’s design of Herman Miller’s Aside chair
challenges preconceptions about secondary seating.
He proved that you could have a luxurious, goodlooking, and durable side chair that’s also priced less
than most competitive models.
Goetz reasoned that people in workstations, meetings,
collaborative spaces, and reception areas all deserve
a comfortable seat—whether they stay for moments
or hours. So he went for supportive contours, a high
and wide back, and a double-thick seat cushion, all of
which contribute to Aside’s stylish profile.
Environmentally speaking, Aside is strongly influenced
by Herman Miller’s Design for the Environment standards
(outlined below) in order to meet the customer’s
needs in a sustainably smart fashion.
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?
Material Content
The Aside chair’s components are constructed from
steel, plastic, aluminum, foam, and textile.
STEEL 56%
PLASTIC 19%
ALUMINUM 12%
FOAM 12%
TEXTILE 1%
The Aside chair is up to 85 percent recyclable at the
end of its useful life.
Aside is comprised of 31-percent recycled materials.
This figure breaks down to 21-percent post-consumer
and 10-percent pre-consumer recycled content.
POST-CONSUMER
RECYCLED CONTENT 22%
PRE-CONSUMER
RECYCLED CONTENT 9%
• Steel components contain approximately 35 percent
recycled content and are 100 percent recyclable.
• Die-cast aluminum components are typically made
from more than 95-percent recycled material and
are 100 percent recyclable.
• Most metal components have a powder-coat paint
finish that emits negligible volatile organic compounds
(VOCs).
® Y and Z and Aside are among the registered trademarks of Herman Miller, Inc.
® GREENGUARD is a registered trademark of the GREENGUARD Environmental Institute.
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© 2012 Herman Miller, Inc., Zeeland, Michigan
Y
Environmental Product Summary
Aside
®
Chair
• Plastic components are identified with an ASTM
recycling code whenever possible, to aid in returning
these materials to the recycling stream.
• 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.
• Textiles used in Herman Miller products can be made
from natural or synthetic fibers. Several textiles are
available with 100 percent recycled content.
• Returnable/Recyclable Packaging—Packaging materials
include corrugated cardboard and a polyethylene
plastic bag. These materials are part of a closedloop recycling system, meaning they can be recycled
repeatedly.
– Whenever possible, shipments between
– On large North American orders, disposable
Manufacturing Process
• Renewable energy and Emissions—The Aside 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 Aside’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.
Herman Miller and its suppliers include the use
of pallets and other returnable packaging to
minimize waste.
packaging can be replaced with reusable
shipping blankets.
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.
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 require they assist us in decreasing our facilities’
negative environmental effects, as well.
LEED
The Aside chair may contribute to LEED credits
due to its returnable/reusable packaging, durability,
pre-consumer recycled content, and post-consumer
content. Depending on location, Aside also may
contribute to a LEED Regional Materials credit. Please
refer to http://hermanmiller.com/ecoScorecard or
contact your Herman Miller representative for detailed
LEED information.
It’s important to note that no interior furnishings,
individually or collectively, can guarantee a
specific number of points for LEED certification.
Product Performance
• Easy assembly for cost-efficiency and quick parts
replacement.
• Easy disassembly for recyclability.
• Designed for durability, an important environmental
criterion.
• Backed by Herman Miller’s 12-year, 24/7 warranty.
Indoor Air Quality
The Aside chair is GREENGUARD® certified as a lowemitting product that meets current indoor air quality
standards.
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Herman Miller complies with the Federal Trade commission’s Part 260
Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims.
® Y and Z and Aside are among the registered trademarks of Herman Miller, Inc.
® GREENGUARD is a registered trademark of the GREENGUARD Environmental Institute.
© 2012 Herman Miller, Inc., Zeeland, Michigan
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