Office Depot Hosts Eighth Annual Awards for Leadership in Greener Purchasing

Office Depot, Inc. (NASDAQ: ODP), a leading global provider of office products, services and solutions and parent company of Office Depot and OfficeMax, today announced that it recently recognized a number of organizations for their leadership in greener purchasing, including:

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Office Depot Leadership in Greener Purchasing Award Winners join David Trudnowski, SVP Sustainability, Adjacencies & Public Sector Strategy and Yalmaz Siddiqui, Senior Director, Sustainability for Office Depot. (Photo: Business Wire)

• Best Buy
• City of Chicago
• DaVita HealthCare Partners
• DHL
• Greystar Real Estate Partners
• International Monetary Fund (IMF)
• Rush Enterprises
• Spirit Airlines
• Strategic Source
• Teva Pharmaceuticals
• Windfall

In addition, Best Buy received the Office Depot Private Sector Award for Leadership in Diverse Purchasing.

The awards were presented during Office Depot’s Eighth Annual Leadership in Greener Purchasing Awards ceremony held in Denver on Oct. 8, 2015, alongside the International Facilities Management Association (IFMA) World Workplace Conference & Expo. Prior to the awards, Office Depot hosted an educational summit during which speakers from Best Buy, DaVita HealthCare Partners, Office Depot and the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council presented on best practices in sustainable purchasing. David Gottfried, founder of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) delivered the keynote address.

“Office Depot congratulates the winners of our Eighth Annual Leadership in Greener Purchasing Awards,” said David Trudnowski, senior vice president of sustainability, adjacencies & public sector strategy for Office Depot. “Purchasing and facilities managers across the country are actively pursuing sustainability as a strategy, and our award winners are showing leadership in implementation of these strategies through daily purchasing decisions.”

Award winners were selected from among Office Depot’s largest 1,000 customers based on their high green spend percentage compared to others in their sector. Office Depot calculates green spend percentage by comparing a customer’s expenditure on products with eco-attributes such as recycled content, energy-efficiency, non-toxicity, etc., and/or ecolabels such as FSC, EPEAT, GREENGUARD, GreenSeal and EcoLogo. Customer purchases with the highest level of meaningful eco-attributes and ecolabels were given extra weight in the selection process.

"Office Depot has long had an environmental strategy strongly focused on the B2B marketplace,” said Yalmaz Siddiqui, senior director of sustainability for Office Depot. “We know that as we recognize B2B leaders for their green or diverse purchasing efforts, they will be more likely to continue and others will be more likely to follow. We have proven this year over year, and are proud to recognize our newest set of winners.”

Office Depot also invited a number of suppliers of eco-conscious products to participate in a sustainability showcase during the IFMA Expo. A few suppliers, including Kimberly- Clark, sponsored and co-presented some awards.

“Kimberly-Clark has had a long-standing commitment to be responsible stewards of the environment,” said Stewart Van Horn, director of global sustainability for Kimberly-Clark. “We commend Office Depot for recognizing green purchasing leadership and believe that celebrating customer accomplishments in this way will translate to further action on green procurement.”

To view a recap video of the event, click here.

About Office Depot, Inc.

Office Depot, Inc. is a leading global provider of products, services, and solutions for every workplace – whether your workplace is an office, home, school or car.

Office Depot, Inc. is a resource and a catalyst to help customers work better. We are a single source for everything customers need to be more productive, including the latest technology, core office supplies, print and document services, business services, facilities products, furniture, and school essentials.

The company has annual sales of approximately $16 billion, employs approximately 56,000 associates, and serves consumers and businesses in 59 countries with approximately 1,800 retail stores, award-winning e-commerce sites and a dedicated business-to-business sales organization – all delivered through a global network of wholly owned operations, joint ventures, franchisees, licensees and alliance partners. The company operates under several banner brands including Office Depot, OfficeMax, OfficeMax Grand & Toy, Reliable and Viking. The company’s portfolio of exclusive product brands include TUL, Foray, Brenton Studio, Ativa, WorkPro, Realspace and HighMark.

Office Depot, Inc.’s common stock is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol ODP. Additional press information can be found at: http://news.officedepot.com.

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