Checking out recycled content

Recycling Today, August, 2005

Office supplies retailer Office Depot, Delray Beach, Fla., has announced that 65 percent of its 2004 U.S. paper sales came from recycled paper--a 373 percent increase from 2003.

Office Depot also reported that the average annual post-consumer recycled content of all paper it sold in the United States last year climbed by nearly 125 percent.

During 2004, 65.3 percent of Office Depot's total U.S. retail, contract business and commercial paper sales contained post-consumer recycled content. In addition, the average post-consumer recycled content (total weight of recycled fiber as a percent of total paper weight) of paper sold across all US. channels reached 10.5 percent, a 4.5 percent increase from 2003 figures.

"We are thrilled to report that nearly two of every three sheets of paper sold in the United States by Office Depot last year contained recycled content," Tyler Elm, Office Depot's director of environmental affairs, says. "With paper being the most ubiquitous single office product, the sales effect of recycled stock is a significant benchmark of our corporate commitment to promoting environmentally-sensitive products."