Office Depot

D
  • Office Depot
  • Office Max

Office Depot (which includes OfficeMax) earned a letter grade of D, which reflects an improvement from its F grade in 2018. The company scored 26.25 out of 146.5 possible points, ranking 28th out of the 43 retailers evaluated this year.

The improvement was driven primarily by posting a safer chemicals policy and having clear accountability standards for its suppliers to meet it. While expressing a commitment to “phase out chemicals of concern,” the policy does not provide a beyond restricted substance list (BRSL) or a manufacturing restricted substance list (MRSL), nor does it provide public goals or metrics on its impact.

Office Depot promotes “green” products and those with “reduced chemicals,” but offers no criteria, credible third-party certifications, or disclosures in order to justify such claims. While some products in these categories list specific, credible certifications, one has to read each product description on a product-by-product basis to determine this. It also recommends but does not require its suppliers to seek “…safer alternatives for chemicals used in products, packaging…” and to otherwise reduce the use of hazardous chemicals. While we hope that Office Depot’s suppliers accept that recommendation, the lack of requirements, even for just monitoring of progress, hinders the retailer’s performance.

Opportunities for improvement: Office Depot can make progress by presenting public quantifiable goals with clear timelines for reducing and eliminating chemicals of high concern (CHCs), especially any per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), toxic flame retardants, and phthalates that may be in products it sells. The company should require its suppliers to follow through with the “recommendations” that Office Depot is already making. Office Depot should also become a signatory to the Chemical Footprint Project and pilot it with key private label suppliers.

Note: Our assessment is primarily based on the policies and practices of Office Depot, the parent company of Office Max.

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Summary of Office Depot’s Grade

5 out of 17.5 points

Policy: Adopted a retailer safer chemicals policy

Explanation of Points

Office Depot has a public written safer chemicals policy that seeks to “phase out chemicals of concern,” and that appears to be applicable to all locations where products are sold. The retailer has not set public quantifiable goals for reducing and eliminating CHCs and does not have a publicly available BRSL or MRSL.

2.5 out of 5 points

Oversight: Established management responsibilities and incentives

Explanation of Points

Office Depot reported that it has a VP-level senior manager who oversees the environmental compliance and private-brand product groups and is responsible for the company’s safer chemicals policy.

8.75 out of 12.5 points

Accountability: Ensures supply chain accountability

Explanation of Points

Office Depot’s agreements for its private-label products require vendors to submit samples to third-party laboratories chosen by the retailer on a regular basis to assess compliance, as well as be subject to testing on-demand from the retailer. Since “on-demand” testing is not the same as “routine” testing, partial credit is awarded for this component. Office Depot states that it trains its suppliers in the policy and reporting requirements.

0 out of 13 points

Disclosure: Requires suppliers to report use of chemicals in products to retailer

Explanation of Points

Office Depot has not taken any discernible action on suppliers disclosing ingredients to the retailer going beyond regulatory compliance. While the retailer notes that it does require ingredient reporting via the WERCs system, the reported information is limited to chemicals already defined by government regulators and therefore does not further a safer chemicals policy.

0 out of 16 points

Action: Reduced or eliminated chemicals of high concern (CHCs) within the last three years

Explanation of Points

Office Depot “recommends” that suppliers substitute safer chemicals for its private-label products and avoid the use of PVC in packaging and products, but it has not publicly documented progress on reducing CHCs beyond regulatory compliance in the last three years.

2 out of 13.5 points

Safer Alternatives: Evaluates safer alternatives, avoids regrettable substitutes

Explanation of Points

Office Depot provides its suppliers with a “recommendation” to substitute safer chemicals but does not provide detailed guidance as to how to evaluate alternatives.

5 out of 18 points

Transparency: Demonstrates a commitment to transparency and public disclosure

Explanation of Points

Office Depot’s safer chemicals policy is publicly available. The company does not have a public BRSL or MRSL and has not committed to disclosing either of those items in 2020.

Office Depot does not appear to encourage or require suppliers to publicly disclose ingredients in products online or on product packaging and does not itself publicly disclose the identity of articles or formulated products that are free of CHCs going beyond regulatory compliance.

0 out of 7.5 points

Chemical Footprint: Evaluates its chemical footprint

Explanation of Points

Office Depot has not made any discernible progress on measuring its chemical footprint via the Chemical Footprint Project.

3 out of 8.5 points

Third-party Standards: Promotes credible third party standards for safer products

Explanation of Points

Office Depot “recommends” that suppliers for its private-label products formulate with third-party recognized “safer chemicals standards,” including ones we consider to be credible.

Extra Credit:

0 out of 5 points

Joint Announcement: Public commitment demonstrated through joint announcement

Explanation of Points

Office Depot has not made a discernible public commitment through a joint announcement or other coordination effort in advance of a major announcement within the time periods specified in the scoring rubric.

0 out of 15 points

Continuous Improvement: Shows continuous improvement by steadily expanding safer chemicals policy

Explanation of Points

Office Depot has not exhibited any discernible pattern of significant, consistent, or long-term improvements over the past year or a longer period of time going beyond regulatory compliance.

0 out of 5 points

Safer Products: Program to promote safer products in stores and/or on website

Explanation of Points

Office Depot features “Greener Office” as a way to shop online. Criteria for inclusion in this category include products that “reduce chemicals,” and the retailer notes that “where possible, Office Depot has also identified products that meet third-party guidelines such as Greenseal or the EPA’s Comprehensive Procurement Guidelines (CPG).” However, meeting other criteria, such as recycled content, can land products on the “Greener Office” page, and in some cases, the reason for inclusion in this category was not clear. No credit was awarded here because, in general, it seems difficult for a consumer to determine which products in this section of the Office Depot website contain safer chemicals. On a limited number of pages within the Greener Office site, Office Depot does highlight products made with “less harsh chemicals,” but specifics are not provided to back up the claim.

0 out of 5 points

Collaboration: Actively participates in collaborative process to promote safer chemicals

Explanation of Points

There is no indication that the retailer actively participates in a collaborative process or retains an independent expert body to promote safer chemicals or that it has created an external advisory board to provide input on implementation of the policy.

0 out of 5 points

Impact Investment: Investing financial resources into independent research into safer alternatives and/or green chemistry solutions

Explanation of Points

There is no indication that the retailer invests significant financial resources into independent research into safer alternatives to CHCs and/or green chemistry solutions
Grade
D
Points
26.25
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