Office Depot named America's greenest large retailer by Newsweek magazine for second straight year and eighth greenest large company overall, is only retailer in U.S. top 10 list

Cindy Allen

BOCA RATON, Florida , October 24, 2011 (Office Depot) – Office Depot (NYSE: ODP), celebrating 25 years as a leading global provider of office supplies and services, today announced that it has been recognized in Newsweek magazine’s annual Green Rankings, as the greenest large retailer in America for the second year in a row.

Office Depot not only achieved the highest aggregate green score in the U.S. retail industry, but also led in Environmental Management, and disclosure of performance data. Across all industry sectors, Office Depot was ranked as America’s 8th greenest large company, a move up of 10 spots from last year, and was the only retailer in the U.S. top 10 list.

“We’re immensely proud to be named the top U.S. retailer in Newsweek’s Green Rankings for the second consecutive year,” said Kevin Peters, President, North America for Office Depot. “We know there is a large and growing set of customers who choose Office Depot in part because of our unique ability to support their environmental goals – and Newsweek’s recognition provides further evidence that Office Depot is the supplier-of-choice for organizations seeking a greener way to get their office products.”

Two specific environmental programs Newsweek highlighted in its profile of the company included:

The recently launched GreenerOffice Delivery Service which is on track to save over 3,000 tons of wood and approximately $1.5 million a year by delivering goods in paper bags rather than cardboard boxes.
The series of reporting tools Office Depot provides its largest customers, including cities, states, and large corporations, which help explain their greener purchasing and the “environmental and financial tradeoffs” of their greener purchasing decisions.

“Since 2006, Office Depot has had an environmental strategy to buy greener, be greener and sell greener,” said Yalmaz Siddiqui, Senior Director, Environmental Strategy for Office Depot. “While we’re incredibly excited that Newsweek ranked us in the top 10 greenest large companies in America, we’re even more thrilled that they recognized our unique ability to serve our customer’s environmental goals. Many leading sustainability programs focus on the supply chain, but we’ve elevated the most important stakeholder by putting the customer at the center of our environmental strategy.”

In addition, as detailed in its PwC-reviewed Environmental Dashboard, the Company has aggressively reduced its environmental footprint in most key areas of environmental impact - often driving cost reductions in the process:

Reducing its North American waste footprint from 24,000 tons in 2008 to 16,900 in 2010; reducing costs of waste by nearly $1 million dollars a year.
Reducing its North American electricity footprint from 628,000MWh in 2008 to 499,000MWh in 2010, reducing electricity costs by about $15 million dollars a year.
Reducing its North American Carbon Footprint from 401,000 metric tons CO2e in 2008 to 319,000 metric tons CO2e, while driving reduction in carbon intensity as well.
Increasing its LEED-certified buildings footprint from 21,000 square feet in 2008 to 656,000 square feet in 2010, and targeting 1.1 million square feet in upcoming years.

About Newsweek’s Green Ranking Methodology

Newsweek’s Green Rankings focus on the largest publicly traded companies in America (the U.S. 500 list) and worldwide (the Global 500 list). Each list consists of the largest 500 companies by revenue (most recent fiscal year), market capitalization, and number of employees as of June 30, 2011. For more information about the rankings and how they were calculated, please visit: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/10/16/newsweek-green-rankings-2011-full-methodology.html

About Office Depot’s Environmental Initiatives

In 2003 Office Depot launched The Green Book™ catalog of environmentally preferable products and has released a green catalog almost every year since; Office Depot’s closest competitor created its first such catalog in 2008.
In 2004 Office Depot developed an industry-leading environmental paper purchasing policy, helping its customers avoid sourcing from potentially controversial forest sources.
In 2005 Office Depot expanded an extensive Ink & Toner Recycling Program for customers.
In 2006 Office Depot released a Green Book catalog in 7 European countries.
In 2007 Office Depot started a Green Customer Awards program, publicly recognizing large customers for their greener purchasing practices.
In 2007 Office Depot also launched an educational seminar series focused on greening the workplace. This has since rolled out to over 20 cities in the US, and attended by over 2,000 purchasing, facilities and administrative executives across the country.
In 2008 Office Depot created a website for greener purchasing: www.officedepot.com/greeneroffice.
In 2009 Office Depot created the Green Business Review, a report which shows customers green spend and the environmental and financial trade-offs of greener purchases.
In 2010 Office Depot helped customers achieve LEED Credits by creating a report to track “sustainable purchasing” in the format required by the US Green Building Council.
In 2011 Office Depot launched its GreenerOffice Delivery Service that gives customers a greener way to get their office supplies in paper bags instead of cardboard boxes.

For more information about Office Depot’s environmental initiatives, visit: www.officedepot.cc/environment/

About Office Depot

Celebrating 25 years as a leading global provider of office supplies and services, 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 supplies and services to its customers through 1,627 worldwide retail stores, a dedicated sales force, top-rated catalogs and global e-commerce operations. Office Depot has annual sales of approximately $11.6 billion, and employs about 40,000 associates around the world. The Company provides more office supplies and services to more customers in more countries than any other company, and currently sells to customers directly or through affiliates in 56 countries.

Office Depot’s common stock is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ODP. Additional press information can be found at: http://mediarelations.officedepot.com and http://socialpress.officedepot.com/.

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