Office Depot is offering rebates and carbon offsets to companies that make choices that reduce the emissions associated with their shipping.

The new Greener Shipping program is available to eligible contract customers who agree to meet targets like eliminating small orders, reducing delivery frequency and increasing their average order size. Specific targets will vary based on customers' current delivery patterns.

In return, companies will receive rebates on select green office products, renewable energy and carbon offset purchases from EarthEra, or free consultation sessions on energy efficiency, waste reduction and related topics.

EarthEra is a program created by energy company NextEra Energy Resources and funds the creation of renewable energy projects in the United States.

The program was unveiled this month, as was the latest business-to-business Green Guide online catalog from competing office supply company Staples. This year's catalog includes more than 1,100 products.
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Some possible new additions to the company's greener offerings were awarded at Staples' inaugural Global EcoEasy Challenge this month as well. The contest asked students from technology institutions around the world to design a completely new product or redesign an existing product that promotes sustainability, uses environmentally-preferable materials or reduces energy use.

The $25,000 grand prize went to the team from University of New South Wales in Australia, which submitted the BIND (right), a flexible and reusable tie-and-ring system for organizing documents, promoted as an alternative to binders, paper clips and cable ties.

The two runners up, receiving $5,000 each, were the team from University of California-Berkeley, which created a mini-stapler (above, left) made with bamboo, cork and steel, and the team from Indian Institute of Technology Madras, which developed a shredder that is powered manually instead of with electricity.

_{All images - Courtesy of Staples}