Sustainability has long been framed as restraint; use less, waste less, emit less. But as cities grow and industries scale, that framing begins to feel inadequate.

Because reduction still assumes a system that produces waste.

The more urgent question is whether that system itself can be redesigned.

For companies operating at the intersection of materials and the built environment, this shift is no longer theoretical. It is operational. It changes how products are imagined, how supply chains are built, and how value is defined over time.

In a recent episode of Interface Design Guild by Forbes India, this shift comes into sharper focus through a conversation with Mark Haverlach, who explores how circular thinking is beginning to reshape the built environment.

For Mark Haverlach, Vice President - Commercial Operations, Asia at Interface, this shift began with a realisation that still feels relevant today.

“We took more from the earth than it could regenerate.”

That insight set the foundation for a journey that first aimed at eliminating negative impact; and then moved beyond it.

Because neutrality, as it turns out, is not the end state.

When ‘no harm’ stops being enough

For years, sustainability targets were built around minimising damage. Lower emissions, reduced waste, improved efficiency. Necessary steps, but still anchored in a linear system.

At some point, the question changes.

“Is it enough to not have a negative impact?” Haverlach asks. “We concluded it was not.”

What follows is a different kind of ambition; one that does not just minimise impact,........

© Forbes India