By Jeannie Fanning
July 19, 2010

Walk into any workplace supply room and the array of office supplies is plentiful. With over 10,000 sheets of letter paper being used by U.S. workers each year and 167 million ink and toner cartridges being dumped in U.S. landfills annually, office supply orders are understandably gaining professional attention. Office Depot, global supplier and manufacturer of office products and services, saw this supply use trend growing and has since paired up with cooperative purchasing group U.S. Communities and Los Angeles to put “greener” office supplies into city purchasing contracts.

In Los Angeles, Director of Supply Chain Services Ken Desowitz and Gerald St. Onge, of the Environmental Purchasing Program, work together to buy supplies for the 40 departments in the city, meeting the city’s needs while implementing more green products. Los Angeles has a long'standing history of purchasing recycled toners and refined oil as well as other products with recycled content. St. Onge sees the definition of green products evolving. He expects Los Angeles to be the leading government purchasing agency of hybrid vehicles and green fuel, but is still somewhat new to buying greener office supplies.

Los Angeles’ strategic purchasing alliance with Office Depot dates back to 2000, having started with recycled pens, binders and toner cartridges and evolving into a strong relationship as Office Depot began proposing new green products. Los Angeles was the first city to test the Green Substitution Program and has reported some significant cost savings from making this move to greener purchasing.

When Chris Penny, Director for the Public Sector at Office Depot, and his team noticed the green trend growing, they approached U.S. Communities and its participants to come up with environmentally conscious office solutions. They have created a seamless substitution program that allows government agencies to switch from regular products to green ones, while saving time and money. “The Green Substitution Program is a tool that allows customers to search for environmentally preferable items online,” says Penny. “The success the Green Substitution Program has had is due in large part to having listened to our customers.”

Charrell Huddleston, National Program Manager for the Public Sector at Office Depot, points out, “The Substitution Program is easy to take part in because no commitments have to be made.” Users simply go online and can select from a broad range of green products, just the same as browsing for standard products. As an added bonus, cities can recognize additional green cost savings on top of the savings already incurred by purchasing through U.S. Communities.

For a city such as Los Angeles, which has an $8 million spending budget with Office Depot, the savings are significant. In 2009, for example, the city saved $100,000 on its Office Depot purchases. Greener paper and ink toner cartridges typically run below the cost of their regular product counterparts, although some supplies such as scissors and staplers are generally just above standard prices. When purchasing lists are tallied, the result typically ends in savings.

The road to environmental sustainability is uncharted, but with companies like Office Depot on board, the solutions are looking easier. Cities like Los Angeles are saving time and money through their use of the Green Substitution Program and are setting the example for other government agencies to follow. With this kind innovative purchasing tool accessible to all, it is an exciting time to be buying green.

To view the various green products offered through the U.S. Communities program, visit the website www.gogreencommmunities.org. To register your city for the benefits of U.S. Communities purchasing, visit www.uscommunitis.org. For additional information about U.S. Communities, contact Kathryn Kretschmer-Weyland at 301-460-5251 or send e-mail to kweyland@usmayors.org, or Jeff Bean at 202-446-8140 or e-mail jbean@usmayors.org. Connie Kuranko from U.S. Communities can be reached directly at ckuranko@uscommunities.org.