Our Green Initiatives

Environmental concerns and the issues to be addressed are at the heart of every business.
Recognising the need to comply with all environment legislation is not enough.
Recognising the values of our natural environment and the need to protect it is the driver.
Aims and objectives to move to sustainable energy reduce waste and pollution should be on all our business plans.
Staples Advantage UK maintains an effective environmental management system certified to ISO14001.
Through this system we can monitor our current environmental performance and by setting ourselves challenging targets will ensure we achieve in our drive for continuous improvement.
In providing our services we endeavour to take every practical step to ensure that our products and processes will comply with current and future legislation and where possible exceed these requirements.

Staples Advantage UK  liase and works with all our associates, suppliers and customers to ensure our drive to minimise any harmful effect we may have on the environment is achieved
Environmental issues form part of our business reviews with all our customers. We will continue to support our customers and help them achieve their environmental targets by providing innovative solutions
We will continue to extend the product groups and services to allow customers to maximise the benefit of a single source provider

Many of our European business units have devoted significant effort to obtain and maintain ISO 14001 certification.

Sites across:

• Germany
• Denmark
• Sweden
• UK
• the Netherlands
• France
• Finland
• Norway
• Spain
• Belgium
  
  

Most recently, we obtained certification in Portugal. All countries exceeded the stringent criteria required for certification in this independent, internationally standardized system for environmental management.

Staples UK manages and monitors the environmental impacts of our operations, from our energy use to our purchasing. To meet our environmental goals, we're taking a multi-faceted approach that includes:
- Energy efficiency
- Renewable power investment
- Green building design
- Work with our UK logistic partner to reducing the carbon impact of our delivery fleet
- Recycling schemes

Excess packaging — whether for individual products or in our shipments to customers — wastes resources, impacts our business costs, and burdens our customers with packaging waste that they then have to dispose of or recycle.

To mitigate these impacts Staples Advantage has engaged with packing engineering specialists in the UK and across Europe to source the very best packaging specifications and solutions. This is to ensure that parcels reach our customers in perfect condition and are free from damage. Less packaging is counterproductive if the goods are not adequately protected and therefore prone to damage in transit. This then results in avoidable collections, returns, additional vehicle miles, increased carbon impact and additional inconvenience and hassle for our customers.

In 2012, Staples Advantage UK made a significant investment in new packaging machinery. The machine (known as Jivaro) is able to consistently provide secure packaging with no wasted space or costly and avoidable filling materials. A 30% reduction in shipping volumes is a typical benefit of the machinery. This translates into fewer vehicles required to move the product to customers. The Jivaro solution perfectly complements our four pillars of Customer Excellence; Value, Flexibility, Service and Environment.

For our UK customers, the Jivaro solution guarantees:
•    A package adapted to the fill volume
•    A fixing of the contents by the adapted fold height of the carton

The Jivaro solution supports our environmental pillar through:
•    More cartons in the trucks, so less trucks on the roads
•    Minimum quantity of cardboard results in a stronger box

At Staples UK, we pledge to make it easy for our customers to operate their businesses ethically, environmentally and sustainably. It is our aim to make a difference by offering more sustainable products and services, shaping and growing our business in an environmentally efficient way. We are committed to helping our customers take action to protect the environment for future generations. Our logistics partnership marks a significant step in bringing this commitment to life for Staples Advantage customers.

It is our aim to go beyond compliance with government regulations and customer expectations. This requires Staples and its delivery partners to continuously seek new, innovative solutions and technologies that will create value for money services whilst ensuring continued sustainability.
In choosing a national logistics partner, Staples Advantage UK looked for a supplier to match and where possible enhance our own strict carbon reduction targets. Through our partnership with TNT, we are delighted to have fulfilled this aim.
Leading the Way
Indeed TNT has an ambition to become the world’s first zero-emission transport company. Zero signifies where they want to be in the future: operating zero-emission buildings and depots, managing a fleet of zero-emission vehicles, leasing only zero-emission company cars – ultimately, zero carbon output in everything they do.

The Staples Advantage unique delivery solution sees us driving fewer miles per delivery than any of our UK competitors. In many cases the vehicles are making deliveries from other shippers at the same time. Our solution allows for fewer vehicles into customer’s premises and fewer vehicles on the road overall.
In the City of London, Staples Advantage UK use electric 7.5 ton vehicles that are dedicated to Staples deliveries. We also access a further 50 electric vehicles that make deliveries right across the length and breadth of the UK. Through our partnership Staples Advantage customers have direct access to the world’s largest fleet of electric 7.5 ton vehicles.

We utilise an extensive delivery platform of 57 regional delivery depots and 5 sort centres. This means your delivery is always being made from a town or city in your immediate locality. This extensive delivery platform means our vehicles travel less distance into their respective delivery areas. As a result of its new delivery solution, Staples reduced their carbon impact on deliveries by 66% in 2011 compared to 2010. All this translates to lower carbon KG’s per parcel delivered than any of our UK competitors.

At Staples, we expect all of our suppliers to respect and protect workers' human rights and manufacture goods in an environmentally sustainable manner. To maintain this standard, we audit and continue to monitor factories in developing countries supplying us with Staples brand^® products for compliance with our Supplier Code of Conduct.

Sustainable Earth by Staples is our exclusive line of eco-conscious office products. Recycled Refuse Sacks, and soon to be launched ready-to-use cleaners, 71% recycled pens and office products are great ways to get the products your business needs, while lessening the impact on the environment.
From eco-conscious manufacturing processes and product components to packaging made from recycled materials, every Sustainable Earth by Staples product meets our brand’s high environmental standards.