Green Grades 2010: Media Roundup
September 14th, 2010 |
| Find out more about the grades by clicking on the image above. |
This year's edition of ForestEthics and Dogwood Alliance's annual Green Grades report card of the office supply industry was released last week, and as usual, the performance of some of the world's largest brands was much discussed in influential corners of the business and corporate sustainability fields.
Environmental Expert cited the report card as "an important vehicle for educating consumers and large purchasers of office supply products about the big paper sellers' environmental practices," and noted that the progress made, particularly in the office retail sector, would have been hard to imagine half a decade ago. Environmental Leader also weighed in, and Smart Planet took note of the dead heat between arch rivals Office Depot and Staples, each of whom earned a solid 'B' this year. Mother Jones honed in on the dismal grade of F+ for Amazon.com–a company "named after the Amazon River in the Brazilian rainforest."
Fast Company gave the Wholesaler/Distributor and poorly performing Mass Market Retail sectors the benefit of the doubt, noting that this was just the second year those companies had been included in the Green Grades evaluation process, but still urged them to step it up, suggesting they "think more critically about ForestEthics' ratings." We here at ForestEthics agree, but we also see a real difference between how most of the Wholesale/Distributor sector responded to last year's Grades, and how the Mass Market Retail sector responded-- or rather, barely responded. Wholesalers like United Stationers and PaperlinX made real strides in key areas this year.
Meanwhile, Mongabay turned its attention to this year's class clown, asking "Is Amazon.com contributing to forest destruction?", and GreenBiz offers a useful comparison of last year's grades and this year's edition.
You can also get the details on the performance of each company here.
