Office supplies giant Staples is going green with Miami’s first entirely eco-friendly retail building. The building will be LEED silver certification standards compliant and hopefully the first among many of its kind for Staples. It’s encouraging to see a global company like Staples taking the initiative to construct and use green buildings.
Staples’ eco-friendly building design is expected improve energy performance while reducing “heat island effect”. This design will facilitate lower temperatures through a highly reflective roofing system. The design will also reduce the strain on municipal water and Florida aquifer reserves by collecting rainwater through rooftop gutter systems and installing waterless urinals and low-flow toilets. Green buildings are environmentally responsible, healthier and more profitable structures.
Staples also helps customers recycle e-waste by simply bringing their used computers, monitors, laptops, printers, faxes and all-in-ones to any U.S. Staples store, where the equipment will be recycled in accordance with environmental laws. All brands are accepted, regardless of whether or not the equipment was purchased at Staples, for a fee of $10 per large item. With an estimated 133,000 computers discarded every day in the U.S the service provided by Staples is environmentally astronomical.
In addition to computer and office technology recycling, Staples provides customers with easy, everyday, in-store recycling for ink and toner cartridges, cell phones, PDAs and rechargeable batteries. In 2006, the company recycled more than 17 million ink and toner cartridges and 3,500 tons of electronic waste.
“It’s not always easy being green. However, through the leadership of Staples, Americans will see that preventing pollution by recycling unwanted electronics is as easy as it gets,” said Stephen L. Johnson, Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
In addition to recycling of technology items, Staples’ initiatives to help protect and sustain the earth take many forms, such as offering a wide assortment of eco-friendly products, investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy and educating customers and associates about how they can make a difference. The company offers over 2,900 products made with recycled materials and is one of the largest retail and Fortune 500 purchaser’s of green power in the country.
For more on Staples environmental initiatives…
