Demonstrating the company’s long standing commitment to the environment, Staples, Inc. the world’s largest office products company, is working with Entrepreneur.com to launch a program that will help small businesses become more eco-responsible.
Through an online contest located at www.Entrepreneur.com/greenoffice, U.S. small business owners and others can enter the “Green Your Small Business Challenge” by submitting a 100-word essay on how and why they would make their office more sustainable. Qualifying entries must be submitted between May 5, 2010 and June 4, 2010.
Entrepreneur.com will select the three top submissions, awarding the grand-prize winner with a $10,000 green office makeover (through a Staples gift pack) and a spotlight in an online feature themed “How to Take Your Business Green” in August. The second-place winner will receive a $2,000 Staples gift pack and the third-place winner will receive a $1,000 Staples gift pack. Staples offers a wide selection of eco-conscious products which incorporate various environmental features such as recycled content, environmental certifications or other environmental designs. Through the company’s offerings, including the Sustainable Earth brand line, Staples remains committed to providing customers with innovative eco-conscious products.
“Staples strives to make it easy for small business owners to make their workplace more sustainable by offering unique, useful and affordable eco-conscious products like our Sustainable Earth by Staples notebooks and pads made from 80 percent sugarcane waste, to the Staples Verdesol chair, featuring fabric made from 100 percent recycled plastic bottles,” said David D’Angelo, senior vice president of Staples Brands Group. “This initiative with Entrepreneur.com is a great opportunity for Staples to provide the winners with the products and tools they need to make a difference and have a positive impact on the environment.”
EcoEasy Tips for Any Office
1. Whether it’s reusing old stationery as scratch paper, setting up a recycle bin for cans and water bottles, or separating boxes and newspapers, make sure materials in the office are sorted to be recycled.
2. Set up computers and other energy-draining equipment (i.e. copiers, fax machines) to go on standby to reduce energy consumption. Use ENERGY STAR-certified products, which are 50 percent more energy efficient than a standard unit, or consider switching to services like internet fax or virtual office to cut down on equipment altogether.”
3. Turn off equipment at the end of the day or before the weekend starts and unplug equipment until it is needed since many machines consume energy even in the “off” position.
4. Replace any incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs which last up to 10 times longer.
5. Take your old computers, monitors, laptops, printers, faxes and all-in-ones to any StaplesU.S. store and drop them off at the customer service desk to be recycled properly. All brands are accepted for recycling regardless of where they were purchased. Staples also provides ink and toner cartridge recycling and offers $3 back in Staples Rewards for any ink and toner cartridges returned to stores, up to 10 per month.
6. Save materials and important documents digitally on your computer instead of in file cabinets. When printing, use a printer like one from the Staples HP EcoEasy line of printers which use up to 50 percent less paper with double-sided printing.
7. Makeover your desk with eco-conscious products; in addition to recycled paper, Staples offers a wide selection of eco-conscious products such as bamboo flash drives and remanufactured toner cartridges.
8. Use eco-conscious cleaning products when tidying up the office. Staples’ Sustainable Earth(R) cleaning products provide powerful cleaning action and minimize impacts to the environment.
9. Look into furniture and cubicles that are Greenguard Certified (www.greenguard.org). The materials in these products have been tested for toxic emissions. Products that are under the allowable limits of toxins are defined by the U.S. Green Building Council as Greenguard products.
10. Carpool to work; if you and a coworker live by each other, riding to work together will reduce polluting car emissions. If you live close to work, why not walk or ride your bike.
Top Products for Going Green in The Office
– Staples Brand folders and paper make it easy to clean up while greening up. Perfect for the environmentally conscious, the 3-tab 100% Recycled Manila File Folders contain 40 percent post-consumer content. Staples Brand paper also comes in a variety of eco-conscious ream and case options such as Staples 100% Recycled Multi-purpose Paper or Staples 100% Recycled Copy Paper.
– Made from 80% sugarcane waste, Sustainable Earth by Staples Notebooks and Writing Pads are an eco-conscious alternative for any note-taker.
– Sustainable Earth by Staples Glass and All-Purpose Cleaners are formulated with the EPA Design for the Environment, and meet Green Seal environmental standards for household cleaners based on its reduced toxicity, biodegradability and packaging.
– The Staples 7-Outlet and 12-Outlet EcoEasy Surge Protector with Dataline Protection automatically shut off peripheral devices when the primary device is turned off or goes into stand-by mode, resulting in easy energy savings for the office.
– Sustainable Earth by Staples Remanufactured Toner delivers superior printing every time, while reducing the environmental impact.
– With 4GB of storage space and a 100% renewable and biodegradable bamboo casing, the Staples Bamboo USB Flash Drive is perfect from transporting files on the go.
For more information about the Staples and Entrepreneur.com’s “Green Your Small Business Challenge” or to submit an entry and find full official rules, visit www.entrepreneneur.com/greenoffice. For details on Staples environmental initiatives and products visit www.staples.com/ecoeasy.
About Staples’ Environmental Commitment
Staples long-standing commitment to sustainable business practices is based on four key environmental cornerstones: recycling, offering a wide assortment of eco-preferable 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 3,000 eco-preferable products and providing everyday, in-store recycling for computers, office technology, personal electronics and ink and toner cartridges. For more on Staples environmental initiatives, please visit www.staples.com/ecoeasy.
About Staples
Staples, the world’s largest office products company, is committed to making it easy for customers to buy a wide range of office products and services. Our broad selection of office supplies, electronics, technology and office furniture as well as business services, including computer repair and copying and printing, helps our customers run their offices efficiently. With 2009 sales of $24 billion and 91,000 associates worldwide, Staples operates in 25 countries throughout North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia serving businesses of all sizes and consumers. Staples invented the office superstore concept in 1986 and today ranks second worldwide in e-commerce sales. The company is headquartered outside Boston. More information about Staples /quotes/comstock/15*!spls/quotes/nls/spls (SPLS 23.19, -0.07, -0.30%) is available at www.staples.com/media.
Incandescent light bulbs will soon be phased out because they waste a lot of energy.~~-