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EPA Honors Ethan Allen
June 6,
2012 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Green on June 7, 2012
Vertically integrated furniture company Ethan Allen has received an Environmental Merit Award from the New England Office of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Ethan Allen, Danbury, Conn., was honored for outstanding efforts in preserving New Englands environment along with more than 30 individuals and organizations at a special ceremony held earlier this year at Faneuil Hall in Boston.
As a company, we are proud of our commitment to the environment and we take this very seriously both locally and globally, said Ethan Allen Chairman, President and CEO Farooq Kathwari. All of our facilities, including those in northeastern Vermont, work hard every day to make the best use of our resources and ensure the safety and health of our employees and their communities. To have our efforts recognized by the EPA is a great achievement.
At the local level, Ethan Allen reduced air pollutant emissions over the last 10 years by 95 percent, or by 234,800 pounds. The companys commitment to using more eco-friendly chemicals in its finishes has reduced air pollution and hazardous waste generation. In the companys Vermont facilities, wood chips and sawdust, byproducts of its manufacturing operations, are burned to provide steam energy for heat and reused for electric co-generation. This has allowed a drastic reduction in heating oil use at these plants, which hope to be oil-free operations by 2013.
For more than three decades, the merit awards have recognized valuable contributions to environmental awareness and problem solving and are a unique way that the EPA can recognize individuals and groups that are making significant impacts on environmental quality in distinct ways. This year, close to 100 nominations were received from across New England.
"As stewards, all of the recipients are making real and lasting differences in communities across our beautiful region. Whether it's finding innovative ways to safeguard our water resources or conserving the energy our communities use each day, each individual has advanced our mission to protect human health and the environment, said Curt Spalding, regional administrator of the EPAs New England office.
Ethan Allen has also begun to implement the Enhancing Furniture's Environmental Culture program in all of its manufacturing facilities. Launched by the American Home Furnishings Alliance in 1999, EFEC is an environmental management system that requires companieson a facility-by-facility basisto analyze and better understand the environmental impact of their processes, raw materials, and finished products.