By Zanub Saeed
To make their brand more environmentally-friendly, OfficeMax will begin using a new delivery system that will allow for reusable, stackable, and recyclable boxes to be used to send their products from suppliers and to consumers.
The new green-friendly initiative, called the Boomerang Box by OfficeMax, has already started being used in Seattle this June, and will go nationwide by the second half of 2012, said OfficeMax in a press release issued on Wednesday. By using the new Boomerang Box, said Office Max, they hope to reduce box consumption by at least 80 percent with participating businesses and their customers.
"Every business wants to support more environmentally sustainable practices," Sue Mills, director, environmental practices at OfficeMax, stated for the press release. "With Boomerang Box we're giving customers an easy, no-cost way to help do that."
The Boomerang Box delivery system will be free and voluntary for all consumers and businesses that work with OfficeMax to get their office supplies and services, said the press release, and will be serviced through OfficeMax's delivery fleet.
The boxes being used will themselves be made from at least 50 percent post-consumer content, and be continually used for deliveries around the United States until they are in a state where they can no longer hold products and equipment, said the press release. This cycle of reusing the boxes will stop once the boxes are in an unusable condition, in which case they will be recycled again to make brand-new Boomerang Boxes for OfficeMax.
While the Boomerang Box system has only started now in Seattle, it will branch out to the 900 OfficeMax stores across the nation by the end of the year, said the press release. The recyclable and reusable boxes will be used to carry products like paper, pens, pencils, markers, blinders, files, bags and cases, batteries, books, calendars, clips, fasteners, rubber bands, desk accessories, easels, envelopes, glue, labels, mailroom equipment, notebooks and pads, party supplies, rules, scissors, staplers, shredders, taps, and hundreds of other office supplies.
"OfficeMax is committed to supplying our products and services in a manner that reduces our carbon footprint," Larry Hartley, senior vice president, supply chain at OfficeMax, was quoted as stating for the press release. "Responsible environmental stewardship is a component of our success as a company."
