|
OFFICE DEPOT WINS 'OUTSTANDING ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERSHIP AWARD' FROM OFFICE PRODUCTS INTERNATIONAL
Office Depot Honored by World's Leading Office Products Industry Media Firm with Inaugural Award
Boca Raton, Fla., March 12, 2009 - Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), a leading global provider of office products and services, was recognized with an award for its "Outstanding Environmental Leadership" by Office Products International (OPI) at the eighth annual European Office Products Awards banquet held in Frankfurt, Germany. Office Depot was given this special industry recognition for the Company's long-standing commitment to the environment, proven global track record and successful implementation of an industry-leading environmental strategy. A panel of senior industry executives from all channels of the European office supplies industry formed the awards judging panel.
In addition to receiving the inaugural "Outstanding Environmental Leadership" award, Office Depot was a finalist for the traditional 'Environmental Responsibility' award which Office Depot has won for the past three years - every year since the award's inception.
"We are proud to be recognized by OPI and an independent panel of experts for environmental leadership in our industry," said Steve Odland, Chairman and CEO of Office Depot. "We are committed to sustainability as a Company and this award is greatly appreciated as it recognizes efforts in this important area."
"Recognition such as this from OPI and the European office products industry reinforces our desire to do more," said Yalmaz Siddiqui, Director of Environmental Strategy for Office Depot. "It encourages Merchandising to continue sourcing innovative green products and services; it encourages Facilities and Supply Chain to continue lowering our waste and carbon footprint; and it encourages Sales and Marketing to continue developing innovative green solutions to help our customers go green."
In commenting on Office Depot's commitment to the environment, OPI magazine's editor, Stephen White noted in the November 2008 edition of the publication that Office Depot "has invested time, money, blood, sweat and tears into an [environmental program] that, not only makes it best in class, but arguably deserves wider recognition for being one of the world's finest programs."
About Office Depot's Environmental Commitment
Office Depot's longstanding commitment to the environment is guided by the Company's environmental vision to increasingly buy green, be green and sell green. Since 2002, Office Depot has implemented a range of "green" efforts, including but not limited to:
Increasingly Buying Green:
- Developed a Paper Purchasing Policy through which we grew our recycled paper assortment to over 4,000 items in North America;
- Became the first office supply company to make Forest Stewardship Council certified paper widely available in the U.S., and an active member in the World Wildlife Fund's UK Forest & Trade Network; and
- Established a $2.2 million Forest & Biodiversity Conservation Alliance through which Office Depot partnered with Conservation International, NatureServe and The Nature Conservancy to resolve real issues in the forest supply chain, and to guide our environmentally-preferable paper purchasing efforts.
Increasingly Being Green:
- Developed ink and toner and technology recycling programs;
- Retrofitted the lighting in the Company's North American retail store chain to T5 high-output fluorescent lighting, which is 35 percent more efficient than traditional, incandescent lighting;
- Reduced the Company's North American Carbon Dioxide emissions output from 2005 to 2006 by 10.1 percent;
- Replaced our fleet of "box trucks" in North America to ultra-low-emission "Sprinter" vehicles, which are on average 40 percent more fuel-efficient than their predecessors;
- Achieved a BREEAM "Very Good" rating for green building design at our UK Headquarters; and
- Opened the Company's first "Green" store in June 2008, which received Gold Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council; and Volume Gold LEED pre-certification from the USGBC on our store prototype.
Increasingly Selling Green:
- Created the Green Book catalog in 2003, with thousands of environmentally-preferable products and numerous pages of education for Office Depot's small, medium and large business customers;
- Introduced website (www.officedepot.com/yourgreeneroffice) where customers can choose from thousands of environmentally preferable products; and
- Launching a Greener Office Guide in Europe to help take customers through a structured office greening program from "green starter" to "green implementer" to "green leader."
A summary of Office Depot's environmental programs is available here and a detailed description in our 2008 report: www.officedepot.com/corporatecitizenship.
About Office Depot
Every day, Office Depot is Taking Care of Business for millions of customers around the globe. For the local corner store as well as Fortune 500 companies, Office Depot provides products and services to its customers through 1,713 worldwide retail stores, a dedicated sales force, top-rated catalogs and a $4.8 billion e-commerce operation. Office Depot has annual sales of approximately $14.5 billion, and employs about 43,000 associates around the world. The Company provides more office products and services to more customers in more countries than any other company, and currently sells to customers directly or through affiliates in 48 countries.
Office Depot's common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP and is included in the S&P 500 Index. Additional press information can be found at: http://mediarelations.officedepot.com.
Press materials and background specific to Office Depot's environmental initiatives and product offerings is available at http://mediarelations.officedepot.cc/environment.
|
