Turning Green into Gold

Being green is not always the most popular course of action. But it is becoming a key component of corporate social responsibility and the “new industrial revolution.” Those that make a real commitment to environmental awareness are finding that their efforts to do the right thing are turning green into gold.

Office Depot has spent the last six years on a holistic environmental journey driven by its corporate credo: Buy Green, Be Green, Sell Green.

“We started doing things like recycling paper, but it’s evolved into an overall framework for the entire company,” says Yalmaz Siddiqui, chief environmental strategist for the Delray Beach, Fla.-based chain. “We look at our vision as something our associates, suppliers and customers can reach. It’s a big challenge, but we see North America and Europe as the beginning. As we establish a solid foundation we will continue to expand this program worldwide.”

The company is earning kudos for its wide-ranging programs. Late last year, Office Depot received the Environmental Excellence Award for energy conservation efforts that have reduced the chain’s greenhouse gas emissions by 9.4 percent. On the product side, the company is focusing on buying greener items for resale and internal use.

“We’ve spent a lot of time training merchandisers on what attributes make a product green and what discussions they should be having with suppliers in terms of driving the assortment in a greener direction,” Siddiqui says. “It’s not just about recycled content. There’s a whole range of attributes, including the issue of responsible forestry. You can also have products with good environmental attributes, but the packaging is not necessarily green. We’ll be focusing on this next.”

Office Depot implemented a comprehensive ink and toner recycling program for all retail and business-to-business channels in 2002, and has collected more than 15 million cartridges.

In 2004, the company partnered with Hewlett-Packard to implement a technology recycling drive. “Consumers can buy a tech recycling box in one of three sizes, fill it with as many acceptable products as will fit and return it to the store for recycling,” he says, noting that the program has been rolled out on a regional basis.

“We’re doing it where the consumer base is more environmentally aware and therefore willing to pay a small fee” of $5 to $15, Siddiqui says.

Be Green, Sell Green
While many continue to believe that a company must walk a fine line between green initiatives and ROI, “everything under the ‘Be Green’ portion of our vision is a good business investment that will reap a payback,” Siddiqui says. “It’s a matter of choosing the solution with the payback period you want to achieve.”

The “Sell Green” portion of Office Depot’s strategy has been in full swing since 2003, when the company introduced the Green Book, a catalog of environmentally-preferable products. “The idea is that Office Depot provides everything you need for the ‘greener’ office, from furniture to pens and recycled paper,” Siddiqui says.

The number of products (2,800) has more than doubled, and the Green Book also includes tips on ways a company can become greener.

Energy efficiency and improved store design practices have enabled Office Depot to save a lot of green in utility and construction costs.

“A number of initiatives have helped us build more energy-efficient buildings,” says vice president of construction Ed Costa, noting that replacing standard 400-watt fixtures with T5 lighting has “done a lot to reduce energy usage and maintenance costs, as well as improve the overall look of the store.”

The changeover resulted in a reduction of 66 million kWh in 2006 alone – translating to utility savings of $6.2 million, according to Costa. This included the installation of T5s with motion sensors in warehouses along with newer rooftop ventilation, heating and air conditioning units.

T5s have now been installed at the majority of the chain’s North American stores, “but we’re still looking at ways to make lighting more efficient,” says Costa, adding that Office Depot will soon finalize plans “to reduce energy even further without impacting light levels in the store.”

Monitoring systems
Meanwhile, the company is upgrading its energy management systems in order to better monitor what’s going on in the stores. Key features of the new system include:
• Tracking energy usage and trends from a central location
• Setting temperatures for all stores at the most efficient level
• Identifying energy use anomalies, such as lights left on overnight and malfunctioning air conditioning units
• Central notification by alarm when anomalies occur

Store monitoring includes placing remote sensors in break rooms, managers’ offices and restrooms to automatically turn lights on and off. “It’s all part of creating more efficient buildings,” Costa says.

Approximately 600 stores have been equipped with cardboard balers. Bales are backhauled to the warehouses to help reduce the waste stream, and stores have recently begun to recycle paper through the same process. Office Depot is looking at similar opportunities with plastics.

In terms of store construction and design, considerable effort is being directed toward having its Austin, Texas, prototype be the first store in the chain certified as a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building, which is now considered the benchmark for the design and construction of green buildings.