America’s favorite work chair is great for your back and the environment. Reworking the famous Aeron Chair, furniture giant Herman Miller has announced that ocean-bound plastic will be incorporated into each chair.
The revamp introduces ‘Onyx Ultra Matte’, a sleek new ultra-black colorway that not only reflects the Aeron chair’s “sheer depth and inventiveness,” as Herman Miller describes in an email to DesignTAXI, but it also sets an example with the highest amount of ocean-bound plastic—2.5 pounds—added per chair across the series.
Image via Herman Miller
With this switch in materials, Herman Miller expects to “save the ocean from over 150 tons of plastic annually—equal to approximately 15 million single-use plastic water bottles” from the Aeron collection alone.
Image via Herman Miller
Across the range, at least 0.5 pounds of mismanaged plastic waste (equivalent to 23 to 114 plastic water bottles) obtained near waterways goes into the chair’s frame and tilt covers. The all-new Aeron chairs are also up to 90% recyclable and made from over 50% recycled materials.
The ocean-bound plastics used in the signature chairs are “mismanaged waste,” collected within 50 kilometers (31 miles) of coastlines, that haven’t entered the ocean yet. These could include plastic bottles, fishing gear, jugs, and caps. They’re then ground, washed, and pelletized into a material that manufacturers can use in their products.
Image via Herman Miller
Refusing to skimp on ergonomics, the Aeron arrives in three sizes to comfortably fit almost all body types. “Most ergonomic chairs accommodate people in the fifth to 95th percentile, but we believe an even broader range of individuals deserve a chair that fits them: everything from the backrest height, to the seat width, to the tilt mechanism, all the way down to the size of the base,” Herman Miller explains. “There’s an Aeron suited to nearly everyone, from the first to the 99th percentile.”
Image via Herman Miller
The Aeron chair is the latest Herman Miller offering to be reconstructed with ocean-bound plastic. It’s part of the brand’s pact with global network NextWave Plastics to help keep plastics out of waterways. On the logistics end, the company will also incorporate ocean-bound plastic into its returnable shipping crates and poly bags.
By re-engineering products like the Aeron, Herman Miller aspires to incorporate at least 50% ocean-bound plastic in all its materials by 2030.
Image via Herman Miller
“By integrating ocean-bound plastic into all these products and packaging solutions, Herman Miller estimates to divert up to 234 metric tons of plastic from the ocean annually, equal to preventing close to 400,000 milk jugs or up to 13 million plastic bottles from entering the ocean annually,” the company details.
Image via Herman Miller
Image via Herman Miller
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