Material take-back from customers has also fallen substantially, down 36 percent from 8,700 tons in 2011 to 5,600 tons in 2012. But the company says that ink and toner cartridge unit weight estimates, updated from 0.16 lbs to 0.10 lbs and 3.27 lbs to 2.06 lbs respectively, substantially decreased its estimated total ink and toner tonnage. It does not say how much of the total drop in material take-back this adjustment accounts for.

Products

Based on Office Depot’s rating system for greener products, the company has grown its green product assortment from more than 2,000 products to nearly 11,000 items since 2003. Its revenue from green sales fell in each of the past two years, however. Last year 26 percent of its sales came from green products, down from 28 percent in 2011 and 30 percent in 2012. In all, $1.98 billion of Office Depot’s $7.67 billion in North American sales came from green products last year.

The company’s Greener Office Rating System, developed gradually over the past decade, designates items as Light Green, Mid Green or Dark Green, based on environmental specifications. But Office Depot notes that while this system has helped the company and its customers, it has not solved the problem of a lack of a standard definition for “green” products. For this reason it has been active in industry efforts such as the Green Products Roundtable, and last year became the first company to help fund its successor, the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council. Office Depot says these initiatives have the potential to transform how institutions buy.

Also last year, the company finalized work with the World Wildlife Fund on a new Greener Paper Purchasing Policy.