3form’s Newly Launched Align Sustainability Effort

Companies are working hard to not only keep their doors open, but also to maintain a sense of normalcy. And part of that effort means continuing to push the boundaries of what they want to accomplish.

The materials company 3form has been in the game for sustainability since opening its doors. In addition to pursuing sustainable product achievements and developing a strong culture of wellbeing for its employees, the company’s track record has enabled it to be a part of the development of many of today’s most rigorous sustainability standards. Now, it’s pushing further.

The 3form family of companies, including 3form, LightArt, EFI, and Springboard, are launching Align – a “platform of earth-and people-centric initiatives focused on three main pillars: people, product, and planet.”

Mike Johnson, 3form Sustainability Director. Photography: courtesy of 3form

From 3form: “The Align program represents the culmination of 17+ years of commitment to sustainability at 3form, and is an effective re-doubling of their efforts to pursue environmentally & socially responsible design. The companies strive to develop materials with intentionality that empower architects, designers, and consumers to make smart choices about how they buy and build.”

“The three pillars – people, product, and planet – translate into practices: Optimizing current offerings and establishing protocols for the products of the future – not only reducing the companies’ footprint, but contributing to the restoration of our planet and the betterment of human lives. Responding to this moment of urgency, Align is the next step toward net-positive manufacturing within the companies.”

Last week, we caught up with Mike Johnson, Sustainability Director at 3form, to chat about Align, its goals, and how 3form thinks about the bigger picture.

In Fall 2019 3form launched Flek, a terrazzo-like resin material from approximately 75% pre-consumer recycled content, showing a strong growth trajectory towards closing the loop.

“I’ve seen trends in environmental care move over 20 years, and the climate emergency is ramping up rapidly,” said Johnson. “3form has always aimed to be a leader in what can be done to improve our planet. And, sustainability has always been a part of our company ethos. From day one, our Varia product was made from 40% recycled content. At that time, in 2003/7, that was cutting edge.”

“Once we began adding to our company with the acquisition of LightArt and ESI, we found that each company, located in a different region of the country, had its own identity. We wanted to align all of those employees around the same goals.”

3form developed its Full Circle program to support artisans and their communities worldwide, creating micro-savings infrastructures, midwifery education, and adult literacy programs.

“Align is meant to be an operational ethos – intended to guide all of our company decisions. We will celebrate the successes, but we also know we’re going to fail sometimes, and we’re willing to do that and to be very open about it.”

How did they create the framework for their efforts?

“There are so many avenues you can go down in being a good global citizen to the environment. We decided to narrow down to a focus of three pillars – people, planet, and product. Narrowing our goals to those three pillars allows us to focus on the bottom line – on closing our loop.”

PVC-free cord from LightArt

“We intend to lead into regenerative design and regenerative products – making things that actually repair the planet and treat the planet and the people in it with respect, all while being profitable. The focus should be not on doing less harm, but on doing more good, on moving into the positive.”

3form’s efforts around the people, planet and product pillars have been stacking up since its founding in 2002, providing a great base from which to work. Align “pushes all 3form companies to develop products out of 100% recycled material, institute programs that promote health and wellness for employees, and to focus company-wide efforts on improving manufacturing processes.” With that in mind, we took a look at the companies’ past, present, and future accomplishments. Here are the highlights:

>Protecting the health and wellness of employees, clients, and the people involved in their supply chain, the companies utilize Declare labels for ingredient disclosure and GreenGuard certification for indoor air quality assurance. By eliminating the use of Red List chemicals, many of their products qualify for the rigorous standards in Living Building Challenge, LEED v4.1, and WELL building challenges.

>3form is a founding member and leader of the Living Product 50 (LP50), a group of forward-thinking companies like Humanscale, Teknion, and Shaw, who are defining, adhering to, and promoting the rigorous benchmarks of the ILFI’s Living Product Challenge (LPC). This comprehensive framework is the peak standard for developing products that are healthy, socially responsible, and give back to the environment.

>3form measures and reports its environmental impact through life cycle analyses, Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and other disclosures, and continues to optimize their products in pursuit of the Living Product Challenge and other respected third-party verifications.

“To lead properly, we consider it very important to do lifecycle analysis and ingredient disclosure, and we’re looking at ingredients at a very small level – if possible, down to 100 parts per million,” Johnson noted. “Just last Friday, we had our very first optimized third party EPD report released, on our Varia product. That’s an industry-shattering accomplishment.”

>3form was a pilot manufacturer in Google’s Healthy Materials initiative, with participating companies continuing to push for more health and sustainability disclosures and educate their clients accordingly with their Continuing Education (CEU) program. 3form was also invited to be involved in the development of the Health Product Declaration (HPD) standard.

>With the 2019 release of material solution Flek, made from approximately 75% pre-consumer recycled content, 3form continues to invest in research and bold thinking, pushing towards net-zero manufacturing and showing a strong growth trajectory towards closing the loop.

“Five years ago, it was so much easier to recycle because the recycling markets were open,” said Johnson. “Now, because of the way the recycling processes around the world have closed and shifted in the last 5-10 years, we went from having high recyclability to very low recyclability. That shift presented a big challenge for us. We needed to begin internalizing the recyclability of our products, rather than relying on outside sources.”

Recycled materials are broken down and funneled back into new products as part of 3form’s goal of closed-loop manufacturing.

“With our Varia product, for example, pretty much every single order is custom. That means that every layer is unique, making it difficult to recycle. We designed and fabricated our facilities to be able to separate and optically sort those layers, and then ground them down to reusable content. We’re looking at Flek as a closed-loop platform for closed-loop expansion.”

>Since 2005, 3form has operated a take-back program whereby they pay to have their customers’ panels shipped back to them when no longer needed, preventing the materials from ending up in a landfill. 3form will then do what they can to find ways to recycle the material.

>3form developed its Full Circle program to support artisans and their communities worldwide, creating micro-savings infrastructures, midwifery education, and adult literacy programs. 3form also participates in the JUST label program – “a nutrition label for socially fair organizations, earned in part by ensuring equitable, healthy, and transparent workplaces.”

“JUST is an initiative that’s very important to us because it shows we are doing everything we can to help – measuring things properly, and maintaining an incredible level of transparency,” said Johnson.

>The company has invested significantly in all avenues of fitness and wellness programming; an annual GreenWeek celebration – a full week of speakers and sustainability challenges; and monthly sustainability challenges and continuing education.

3form installing its first solar panel array at its Salt Lake City location.

>3form has installed its first solar panel array at its location in Salt Lake City. It is also investing in water-saving initiatives, getting its employees involved in xeriscaping plants [“Pronounced as if it began with the letter z, the use of ‘xeriscaping’ originated with the Denver Colorado Water Department in 1981. A compound of the Greek xeros, dry, and ‘-scape,’ as in landscape, ‘xeriscape’ landscaping essentially refers to creating a landscape design that has been carefully tailored to withstand drought conditions.” – thespruce.com]

>3form offers free charging stations at their Salt Lake City headquarters for employees who drive electric vehicles and also incentivizes them to use alternate methods of transportation. They also regularly host speakers to educate and empower employees to get involved in their local communities, “to get outside and enjoy the beautiful outdoors, and to improve their health, wellbeing, and personal sustainability.”

3form has an on-site health clinic and gym, and offers classes for employees to focus on their health and wellness.

At an onsite health clinic, 3form employees can receive custom health plans, and then head over to 14,000 square foot fitness facilities to train with a team of personal trainers subsidized by the company. The company experienced no increases in healthcare premiums last year, and employees received the month of December free. 3form employees also have access to in-house electric bikes and onsite electric car charging stations, amenities that incentivize staff to use alternative forms of transportation.

>As part of its People pillar, the company wants to move beyond supporting people at 3form. In addition to participating in things like community gardens and donating huge amounts of its excess materials to Habitat for Humanity, the company’s Full Circle Foundation provides benefits to people around the world.

“Within the people pillar, our intention is to not be so isolated with our own employees,” said Johnson. “We need to be engaged in our communities and in our world.”

“It’s easy to separate the three pillars and think of them in a siloed way, but they are inextricably linked. If we don’t have a healthy, viable planet, everything else goes away. And the inverse is true – if we don’t help people be healthy and feel supported, the planet suffers.”

At the end of our discussion, we asked Johnson, a passionate sustainability advocate to say the least, for a final bite of food-for-thought.

“There’s a question I love to pose to anyone thinking about sustainability. As a consumer, we need to be asking, “Should I buy good green products, or buy products from good green companies – or should I buy good green products from good green companies?” The answer is the last option. We want to be one of those companies and products that do both.”