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Ethan Allen Honored for Environmental Excellence
May 2,
2013 by in UnCategorized 
By Home Furnishings Business in Green on May 3, 2013
Full-line furniture manufacturer and retailer Ethan Allen (NYSE:ETH) will receive a 2013 Vermont Governors Award for Environmental Excellence.
The Vermont Governors Awards were established in 1993 to recognize the efforts of Vermonters to conserve and protect natural resources, prevent pollution, and promote environmental sustainability.
We are proud of our commitment to environmental protection and we take it very seriously both locally and globally, said Ethan Allen Chairman, President and CEO, Farooq Kathwari. All of our facilities, including those in northeastern Vermont are dedicated to making best use of our resources and protecting the safety and health of our employees and their communities.
The Danbury, Conn.-based companys project--Fossil Fuel Oil Use Reduction and Increased Recycling Efforts--was honored due to the significant efforts of the companys manufacturing facilities in Orleans and Beecher Falls, Vt., to reduce fossil fuel oil use to zero or near zero through increased recycling of sawdust, chips and wood scrap, and to increase recycling in general to reduce land-fill waste. 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 resulted in a drastic reduction in heating oil use at these plants; the goal is to be oil-free by the end of 2013.
An award presentation will take place at the Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibilitys annual spring conference at the University of Vermont Davis Center on Tuesday, May 14, during which Governor Peter Shumlin will acknowledge Ethan Allens environmental performance and sustainability accomplishments.
In Beecher Falls, Ethan Allen has also been recognized by the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation as a Vermont Business Environmental Partner for its commitment to preserving Vermonts environment. Ethan Allens Beecher Falls and Orleans, Vermont facilities became Enhancing Furnitures Environmental Culture certified in July of 2012. 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. Earlier this year, Ethan Allen was awarded the Corporate Environmental Excellence Award at the AHFAs annual Sustainability Summit for demonstrating exemplary environmental management and ongoing stewardship.