Sell Green > Sell Greener Papers
Two of the goals Office Depot established in 2004 were to increase the number of paper products we sold with post-consumer recycled content, and to strive to achieve an average of 30% post-consumer recycled (PCR) content across all paper products sold and used.
We achieved the first goal by dramatically increasing our recycled content offerings from around 2,300 items in 2005 to over 4,000 in 2007. In trying to implement the second goal, we concluded, after consultation with numerous groups including PricewaterhouseCoopers in their capacity as reviewers and GreenOrder, that an average recycled content for “all paper products” is almost impossible to calculate because many paper products have multiple materials – notebooks with leather covers, binders with metal spines, calendars with plastic backings, etc. As such, we report Average PCR content for cut-sheet paper only. In 2007, we increased Average PCR for all cut-sheet paper sold and printed from 10.4% to 10.7%. We have now set a goal to achieve 15% Average PCR content for cut-sheet paper sold and printed by 2010.
Some companies in our industry report average PCR for all paper products without specifying which categories of paper products they include or how they address the issues of multiple materials, varied recycled content, etc. Based on our consultations with external advisors, we do not believe those numbers can be accurately calculated. We believe the only way to estimate average recycled content for paper products is to be explicit in the categories selected, and focus only on categories where the paper product is made from one material only (i.e. wood fiber only, with no metal or plastic components). In 2007, for the first time, Office Depot calculated this metric, and focused on reporting average PCR for folders (paper only), boxes, and personal care products. Based on this calculation, we achieved an average of 27% PCR in these categories.
A final metric Office Depot began to report in 2007 is certified content in the cut-sheet papers we sell. In 2007, 95% of all cut-sheet paper sold by Office Depot in the US was certified to one of the four certification standards: CSA, FSC, PEFC and SFI.