Office products retailer Office Depot has joined the SmartWay Transport Partnership, a voluntary collaboration between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and commercial, industrial, and public sector organizations.

The SmartWay Transport Partnership brings together major freight shippers, trucking companies, railroads, and logistics companies to pursue mutually beneficial efficiencies that result in emissions reductions and other environmental improvements, as well as cost savings to the companies. As a program participant, Office Depot will contribute to the partnership's goal to reduce 33 to 66 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and up to 200,000 tons of nitrogen oxide per year by 2012. Carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas, and nitrogen oxide is an air pollutant that contributes to smog.

"I am pleased to welcome Office Depot to the SmartWay Transport Partnership," said Margo T. Oge, director of EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality. "They are the first office supply retailer to join the Partnership in a commitment to freight-related environmental performance and fuel efficiency."

As a SmartWay Transport Partner Shipper, Office Depot has committed to:

• measuring the greenhouse gas emissions at distribution facilities;
  
  
• instituting no-idle policies at these facilities;
  
  
• encouraging carriers to consider participation in the partnership;
  
  
• considering participation in the Partnership when awarding contracts to "for-hire" carriers; and
  
  
• tracking company performance to meet these goals.

"Joining the SmartWay Transport Partnership was the natural next step in our long-standing commitment to increasing fuel efficiency in all of our operations," said Mark Holifield, Office Depot's executive vice president, supply chain. "In 2004 and 2005 alone, we saved well over 4.5 million gallons of fuel by increasing the efficiency of our local distribution trucks, shifting from truck to inter-modal shipping, and reaching a target of 98% battery-operated forklifts in our distribution centers."