Collaborates With NorskeCanada and PricewaterhouseCoopers to
Develop Independent Chain of Custody Tracking System With
Full Disclosure of Environmental Performance
DELRAY BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 14, 2004--
Office Depot (NYSE:ODP), working with paper producer NorskeCanada
and professional services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, has
pioneered the industry's first independent chain-of-custody system
for the sourcing of paper in North America. The system enables
Office Depot, the 2004 winner of the United States Chamber of
Commerce's Corporate Stewardship Award, to ensure that paper used in
its printed marketing materials is "environmentally preferable" and
establishes a new level of transparency in the process of paper
procurement.
For Office Depot to consider paper as environmentally preferable,
it must contain postconsumer waste (PCW) recycled content or certified
content. Certified content refers to fiber sourced from forests that
are independently verified as being responsibly managed in accordance
with a recognized forest certification standard, along with an audited
chain of custody tracking system that verifies the use of the
certified fiber in the paper product.
"After more than a year of collaborating with our stakeholders,
Office Depot can now track, measure and report the amount and type of
environmentally preferable fiber used in our North American catalog
and insert paper," said Tyler Elm, Office Depot's Director of
Environmental Affairs. "By early 2005, Office Depot will be able to
claim that its catalog and insert paper from NorskeCanada is sourced
from responsibly-managed forests, certified in accordance with a
recognized forest certification standard, and that no fiber from
illegal logging entered the supply chain."
Office Depot will identify, track and report environmentally
preferable fiber with the following three separate characteristics:
1. Responsibly-Managed: Virgin wood fiber sourced from forests
that are certified by an independent third party as being
responsibly managed in accordance with a recognized forest
certification standard;
2. Responsibly-Procured: Virgin wood fiber sourced using
procurement systems that require uncertified landowners to
meet or exceed government requirements on their forestlands,
including Best Management Practices where they exist; and
3. PCW-Recycled: Reclaimed wood fiber recovered from the solid
waste stream of the end user of the original forest or paper
product.
In support of the Company's environmental policies and commitment
to greater transparency in paper sourcing, Office Depot tracks the
frequency and amount of environmentally preferable paper and publicly
reports this information annually in the industry's only independently
audited Environmental Stewardship Report. (The Report is available for
downloading at www.officedepot.com/environment.)
The development of an independent chain of custody tracking system
for its North American marketing papers enables Office Depot to
address one of the Company's "opportunities for improvement," as
identified in the Report (p.29).
"Our certification audit confirms that rigorous controls,
management and reporting systems are in place," noted Bruce McIntyre,
leader of PricewaterhouseCoopers' Sustainable Business Solutions
practice for the resources sector. "The independent chain of custody
is comparable to other leading certification systems in terms of its
mechanics and transparency."
Office Depot sources paper for a portion of its U.S. catalog and
advertising inserts from two NorskeCanada mills, and is currently in
discussions with other paper suppliers to implement the system.
Independent chain of custody verifies that NorskeCanada paper contains
100% certified wood fiber.
"Certification offers a means to understand and promote forest
stewardship," said Stu Clugston, Vice President, Corporate Affairs for
NorskeCanada. "With our independent chain of custody, we are offering
customers who share the same belief in responsible forest management a
valuable tool to verify the fibre source and certification standards
in the paper they purchase."
In addition to tracking the amount of PCW recycled content in its
marketing papers, the independently audited chain-of-custody system
will better address the needs of paper buyers such as Office Depot.
"The demands upon supply chain tracking systems have evolved
tremendously since the early days of chain of custody," Elm noted.
"Traditional systems are linked to specific forest management
standards in an effort to promote product labeling, and simply do not
reflect the customer's desire for full transparency and the need to
monitor, verify and report on the overall environmental performance of
paper, regardless of certification systems being employed.
"With full disclosure of the environmental attributes of our paper
being the primary objective, we quickly discovered that traditional
chain of custody systems were poorly suited to the diversity of
certification systems in use across the landscape, the complexity of
the forest and paper industry supply chain, and the resulting
composition of the final paper product, which often contains certified
content from a number of different certification standards," Elm
added. "We want transparency, not a label."
"This announcement is a great example of how leadership companies
working in collaboration can make values-based business decisions that
work for them and provide a roadmap for others," said David Ford,
president and CEO of Metafore, a non-profit organization that works
with business and other civil society leaders who recognize the
connection between business prosperity and forest integrity. "Office
Depot and NorskeCanada have established a foundation for tracking
fiber that is transparent and inclusive. This creates opportunities
for other environmental attributes of responsibly produced paper to be
tracked in the future."
Editor's Note: Consumers or businesses may contact Office Depot
regarding more information or to pass along comments via email at
environment@officedepot.com. The news media contact for NorskeCanada
is Lyn Brown, Director of Corporate Affairs, 604-654-4212,
lyn.brown@norskecanada.com. For PwC, please contact Jim Nelson,
Director Marketing & Communication, 604-806-7047,
jim.nelson@ca.pwc.com. For Metafor, please contact Mark Evertz,
Communications Manager, 503-224-2205, mevertz@metafore.org.
About Office Depot
Office Depot's environmental initiatives center on three guiding
principles: Recycling and Pollution Reduction; Sustainable Forest
Management; and Issue Awareness and Market Development for
environmentally preferable products. Office Depot was honored with the
United States Chamber of Commerce's Corporate Stewardship Award for
Large Companies in 2004, which recognizes businesses and chambers that
have demonstrated ethical leadership and corporate stewardship. No
other company in the office products industry has made as strong a
commitment to conserve our forests. Office Depot is already the
largest reseller of recycled paper and recycled content products. In
addition to the company's industry-leading 35% post consumer waste
content paper, Office Depot offers thousands of different products
containing recycled content and added new products including 100% post
consumer waste content papers during 2003.
With annual sales of more than $12 billion, no one sells more
office supplies to more customers in more countries than Office Depot.
Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Delray Beach, Fla., the company
conducts business in 23 countries and employs nearly 50,000 people
worldwide.
Office Depot is a leader in every distribution channel - from
retail stores and contract delivery to catalogs and e-commerce. The
company is the world's number three online retailer - on track to
generate $3B in sales for FY'04. In North America, Office Depot has
923 retail stores in addition to a national business-to-business
delivery network supported by 22 delivery centers, more than 60 local
sales offices and 13 regional call centers.
The company's common stock is traded on the New York Stock
Exchange under the symbol ODP and is included in the S&P 500 Index.
Additional press information can be found at:
http://mediarelations.officedepot.com.
CONTACT: Office Depot, Delray Beach
Brian Levine, 561/438-2895
blevine@officedepot.com
SOURCE: Office Depot
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