Metro Honored by StopWaste.org

- Metro is pleased to announce that it was recently honored by Stopwaste.org and the StopWaste Business Partnership with its annual Business Efficiency Award. These awards, honoring environmentally-responsible companies, are presented annually to a handful of businesses that are becoming more efficient with their use of materials or are preventing waste through the innovative use of materials. Past winners of this prestigious award include Sara Lee Coffee and Tea, the Oakland Hilton Hotel, Bayer, the University of California at Berkeley, Children's Hospital Oakland, and Pacific Gas and Electric.

Along with Metro, this year's winners included Bay-Area businesses, Bay Street Emeryville, IKEA Emeryville, Sconza Candy, Emeryville Public Market, Scios, and Trans Pacific Centre. American Licorice received the first StopWaste Partnership Sustainability Award for continuous improvement.

"Environmental responsibility has always been at the core of what we do," says Kevin Owens, director of product application and environmental strategy at Metro. "Our goal is to create products that have little or no impact on the environment—all without sacrificing the high level of design for which we are known. We're honored to be included in the ranks of so many great companies that have been recognized with this award." 

As part of its commitment to environmental stewardship, Metro continuously explores materials and work methods that improve the sustainability of their products, all without compromising quality. Among Metro's environmental initiatives is its Future Forests™ program, which has planted more than 35,000 trees since it was started in 2000. To learn more about Metro's strategy toward sustainability, visit www.metrofurniture.com/about/environment.htm.

Panelists for the 2006 Business Efficiency Awards included Diana Simmons, ClifBar's sustainability program manager; Mujahid Abdullah, a co-founder of Sustainable Capital; and Tatyana Kjellberg of Hewlett-Packard's Recycling Product Solutions. The panel also included several key members from the StopWaste.org governing board.

For further information on Metro, visit www.metrofurniture.com.

For further information on StopWaste, visit www.stopwaste.org.

About MetroMetro brings life to work by creating refined, modern furniture that improves the experience of life at work—through award-winning concepts pioneered by observations, intuition and research. Metro's comprehensive portfolio emphasizes collaboration and provides high-performance worksettings for individuals and teams in meeting spaces, private offices and the open plan. The company produces premium furniture with a blend of modern precision, an age-old sense of craft, and a dedication to environmental stewardship. The Metro delete factory and corporate headquarters are located in Oakland, CA, with showrooms across the country in Chicago, Santa Monica, New York and Grand Rapids, MI. Founded in 1905, Metro recently celebrated its centennial anniversary. Metro is a Steelcase Company.