Best Buy receives award from Office Depot

Office Depot and Best Buy are intense competitors in many categories, but that didn’t stop the former from recognizing the latter’s sustainable purchasing practices.



Office Depot recently held its Eighth Annual Leadership in Greener Purchasing Awards ceremony in Denver alongside the International Facilities Management Association (IFMA) World Workplace Conference & Expo.



At the event, Office Depot gave Best Buy the Private Sector Award for Leadership in Diverse Purchasing and also held an education summit in which Best Buy and the founder of the U.S. Green Building Council delivered the keynote address.



"Office Depot has long had an environmental strategy strongly focused on the B2B marketplace," said Yalmaz Siddiqui, senior director of sustainability for Office Depot. "We know that as we recognize B2B leaders for their green or diverse purchasing efforts, they will be more likely to continue and others will be more likely to follow. We have proven this year over year, and are proud to recognize our newest set of winners."



In addition to Best Buy, other award recipients included, City of Chicago, DaVita HealthCare Partners, DHL, reystar Real Estate Partners, International Monetary Fund (IMF), Rush Enterprises, Spirit Airlines, Strategic Source, Teva Pharmaceuticals and Windfall.



Award winners were selected from among Office Depot's largest 1,000 customers based on their high green spend percentage compared to others in their sector. Office Depot calculates green spend percentage by comparing a customer's expenditure on products with eco-attributes such as recycled content, energy-efficiency, non-toxicity, etc., and/or ecolabels such as FSC, EPEAT, GREENGUARD, GreenSeal and EcoLogo. Customer purchases with the highest level of meaningful eco-attributes and ecolabels were given extra weight in the selection process.



"Purchasing and facilities managers across the country are actively pursuing sustainability as a strategy, and our award winners are showing leadership in implementation of these strategies through daily purchasing decisions,” said David Trudnowski, Office Depot’s senior vice president of sustainability, adjacencies and public sector strategy.



To view a recap video of the event, click here.