Office Depot Launches Green E-Commerce Site

April 19, 2007

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Office Depot has launched a new green e-commerce site that features “environmentally preferable products.

It’s also released its Top Ten Tips for A Greener Worklife.

“Office Depot’s environmental program is structured around a vision to increasingly ‘buy green, be green and sell green,’” said Yalmaz Siddiqui, Environmental Strategy Advisor for Office Depot. “It’s important for us that our customers are just as environmentally conscious. That’s why we’ve made being green simpler by highlighting tips and key products that can help them achieve both their business aspirations and environmental goals.”

Here are the retailer’s Top 10 Tips to help small businesses improve their environmental performance:

1. Go for “greener options” in the products you buy. Customers today can choose from a wide range of products that are cost-effective, high quality, and often result in lower waste, fewer chemicals, lower energy use, and less materials.

2. Recycle your empty ink and toner cartridges. Almost eight cartridges are thrown out in the U.S. every second of every day. That’s almost 700,000 cartridges per day.

3. Buy remanufactured ink and toner cartridges.

4. Use digital storage solutions to cut down on paper. New technology is allowing businesspeople to store more information using less space, less paper and creating less waste. Data storage devices such as CDs, flash drives, and zip drives are great alternatives to paper.

5. Recycle, recycle, recycle. When using paper in the office, print on both sides of the sheet and recycle the paper when you are finished. Today, only half of the paper used in North America is recycled.

6. Purchase Energy Star qualified products. Energy Star computers, printers, monitors and other business machines can help conserve up to 75 percent of your electricity compared to standard equipment. By switching to “sleep mode” while not in use, these products can save both energy and money!

7. Use compact fluorescent bulbs. Switching from incandescent bulbs to energy-efficient compact fluorescents can deliver up to 75 percent more energy savings and last more than 10 times longer than incandescent light bulbs.

8. Unplug technology off when it’s not in use. Up to 75 percent of the electricity used to power office equipment is consumed while the product is turned off but still plugged in.

9. Buy Renewable Energy Credits to “offset” your energy use. By purchasing Renewable Energy Credits (RECs), businesses can now effectively offset some or all of the carbon dioxide their company emits.

10. Give reusable mugs instead of disposable promotional items to customers. If just one customer buys three cups of coffee a day, five days a week, for one year, that’s equal to over 600 coffee cups that end up in the landfills.

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