Consumables

Staples Is First to Make Forest Stewardship Council Certified Recycled Paper a Standard Offering in All Copy & Print Centers

Tuesday 11. March 2008 - With 50 Percent Post-Consumer Recycled Content, FSC-Certified Staples Brand of Paper Is the Greenest Option Among Office Copy Centers

Staples, Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLS), the world’s largest office products company, today announced that all of its 1,400 Copy & Print Centers nationwide are now using recycled paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) as the standard offering for black and white high-speed copy and print jobs. The Forest Stewardship Council is widely recognized as the leading environmental certification standard for paper, ensuring that trees used to make the Staples brand recycled paper are sourced responsibly from well-managed forests that protect rainforests and wildlife.

With this move, Staples becomes the first national copy and print operation to make FSC-certified paper a standard offering. Using at least 50 percent post-consumer recycled waste content, Staples’ brand of FSC-certified paper is the greenest paper option available in copy and print centers across the country. Staples now offers more FSC-certified paper than any other office supplier, providing both 100 percent and 50 percent post-consumer waste recycled content choices for retail, delivery and contract customers, including copy and print projects placed through contract digital production facilities.

“These FSC-certified recycled content paper products are another way that Staples makes it easy for customers to make a difference for the environment–what we call EcoEasy,” said Mark Buckley, vice president of environmental affairs at Staples. “As one of the world’s largest paper retailers, Staples considers it our duty to set the highest environmental standards in our industry. By making FSC paper the standard offering in our Copy & Print Centers, we provide customers with the most environmentally preferable option available anywhere. We’ll continue to encourage our suppliers to move toward even more FSC-certified fiber as Staples works to advance environmentally responsible attributes of our products across categories.”

As part of Staples’ commitment to environmentally preferable paper, Staples has set a goal of moving the majority of paper products it offers to FSC-certified paper by the end of 2010, based upon availability of supply and market conditions. Staples continually looks to improve the environmental attributes of the paper products it offers, based on its industry-first environmental paper procurement policy established in 2002. This policy quickly became the industry benchmark, prompting change and similar policies throughout the industry.

“We are delighted by Staples’ leadership in carrying the industry’s widest selection of FSC-certified paper,” said Corey Brinkema, president of FSC-US. “We applaud its long-term paper goals to help ensure the vital health of the world’s forests.”

Staples has increased the average amount of post-consumer recycled content across all the paper products it sells from less than 20 percent by weight in 2003 to 30 percent in 2006. Between Staples’ recycling efforts and sales of recycled paper, the company has already saved the equivalent of over 7,000 acres of forest, or more than 2 million trees since 2006.

“Staples’ decision to increase the volume and availability of FSC-certified paper with post-consumer recycled content will help protect endangered forests and prevent native forests from being converted to tree plantations,” said Debbie Hammel, senior resource specialist with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). “Paper products should incorporate the highest possible levels of post-consumer waste and other residues. For the virgin fiber component, FSC is the gold standard for sustainably managed forests. Staples’ leadership sends a loud signal to other corporate consumers and paper producers that the market demands strong environmental performance standards.”

Staples long-standing commitment to sustainable business practices is based on four key environmental cornerstones: recycling, offering a wide assortment of eco-friendly products, investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy and educating customers and associates about sustainability. Through its EcoEasy commitment, Staples makes it easy for customers to make a difference for the environment by offering more than 2,900 recycled-content products and providing everyday, in-store recycling for computers, office technology, personal electronics and ink and toner cartridges.