Staples Advantage Announces Environmental Initiatives on Earth Day

Staples Advantage Canada, the business-to-business division of Staples, has announced a number of environmentally-focused programs aimed at practicing and promoting sustainable business across the country.

"We are committed to sustainability in all areas of our business," said Michael Zahra, president of Staples Advantage Canada. "The programs we are announcing today will allow associates and customers alike to take part in our initiatives. We believe that if we can make it easier for people to be environmentally responsible, we all win."

Today, April 22, Staples Advantage is launching the Integrated Rating Indicator for Sustainability (IRIS), an interactive tracking tool developed to set goals, track progress and visually report on their sustainability initiatives to all their stakeholders.

"At Staples Advantage, we are committed to tracking our progress against 12 measurable targets with four main pillars including Ethics & Diversity, Sustainable Products, Sustainable Operations and Community Engagement," said Zahra.

Staples Advantage is also making it easy for customers to go green. The company's all-new 2013 Green Guide, launching today, features more than 2,000 products with environmental attributes and is available on their online ordering site, eway.ca. They will also be re-launching their "Sustainable Earth by Staples" toner promotion. For every Sustainable Earth by Staples remanufactured toner purchased from May 1 to July 31 , $1 will be donated to Evergreen to support their community greening efforts. Last year, Staples Advantage donated $25,000 from the success of the program.

This year, Staples Advantage will be dedicating half of the proceeds from the Fifty Green initiative to fund Tree Canada's School Greening Program where Staples will help green 10 schools across the country. The other half of the proceeds will continue to support the organization's National Greening Program, which plants trees nationwide to help offset the environmental impact of making small deliveries. To date, Staples Advantage has donated more than $500,000 to the cause which has resulted in more than 100,000 trees being planted.

"As we have seen in the past, we expect our associates to play a big role in our efforts," added Zahra. "Our associates are encouraged to take part in organized clothing drives, clean up days and paperless days. With our associates and customer working together, we expect this to be our most successful sustainability program yet."

For more information visit www.staplesadvantage.ca.