OfficeMax has been one of our association’s member benefits providers for over a decade. As one of New Zealand’s leading workplace solutions providers, OfficeMax can help your retail business achieve its sustainability goals.
Here are some of the ways that Retail NZ members are saving time and money on their own sustainability journeys with OfficeMax:
Finding environmental accredited products is easier than ever
OfficeMax offer an easy to search range of over 1,700 EcoMax products on the officemax.co.nz website. EcoMax products:
- contain a minimum of 30 percent recycled content
- are made from recyclable plastics
- feature one or more environmental accreditations
- are easy for members to add as favourites for future online orders.
One product that is currently exclusive to OfficeMax is New Future OPTI Copy Paper. This has quickly become one of OfficeMax’s most popular papers. In addition to being FSC certified and Carbon Neutral, at 68 gsm it’s lighter than commonly used 80 gsm papers yet it’s hard to feel the difference. The paper runs smoothly in all printers and copiers, comes in a fully recyclable wrapper and is lower priced than 80 gsm papers.
Order Consolidation
There will always be times when you need products urgently. By using the Save function when placing orders on the OfficeMax website, members can add items over the course of a day, week or longer resulting in fewer deliveries and invoices to process and a reduction in their carbon footprint.
Eliminate, Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
The ability to reduce, reuse and recycle products is important. OfficeMax works with members to help them eliminate the need for some products in the first place. Simple things like using scrap paper instead of Post-It Notes and moving to electronic document management reduces the need for paper, filing products, toner to print the document and filing cabinets and offsite record retention to store them. These simple initiatives help reduce members’ costs and carbon footprint.
“Right-sizing” cartons
In 2021, OfficeMax invested over $1 million in state-of-the-art carton packing technology in its North Island distribution centre in Auckland. This technology uses carton blanks that can be automatically reduced in height as the carton is sealed which:
- better protect its contents
- eliminates the need for plastic void fill
- reduces the overall cubic volume and enables delivery providers to fit more freight on a truck and reduce their carbon footprint.
Supporting Local Communities
It is a key component of OfficeMax’s sustainability efforts. Here are some of the great products, services and initiatives that member purchases help support:
Will&Able Partnership
Will&Able is a New Zealand charity who employ nearly 80 staff with intellectual disabilities. They manufacture a range of cleaning and hygiene products made from sustainable ingredients and packaged in containers made from recycled milk bottles.
Charity Tea
Among OfficeMax’s wide range of Fair Trade products is Charity Tea, an Akina certified social enterprise who sell certified, ethically sourced organic tea. A portion of the profit from every packet of tea sold funds school lunches for children in need across New Zealand through the Kai Kitchen Trust as well as helping fund food for children in Haiti through their partnership with Little Footprints-Big Steps. Charity Tea products’ packaging is compostable, refillable and recyclable. They are the only gold standard, Ekos certified, climate positive tea company in New Zealand. They are committed to offsetting 120% of the carbon their business produces.
Biodegradable Packaging
The BioPak range of products are either recyclable or compostable and help reduce waste to landfill. The range includes takeaway containers, cutlery, cups and lids which are made from rapidly renewable and biodegradable materials.
Max e-Grants
In partnership with Barnardos since 2011, OfficeMax and fourteen of its suppliers, have donated over $1.3 million to the Max e-Grants programme which have helped over 16,000 Kiwi kids. Max e-Grants provides grants of up to $5,000 to disadvantaged children from 4 to 18 years of age across New Zealand. These grants help children afford school uniforms, camps and other resources that can help them thrive and achieve their goals.
0800 What’s Up
OfficeMax is an official sponsor of this free, confidential phone counselling helpline and web-chat service for kids to talk to trained counsellors. Facilitated by Barnardos, 0800 What’s Up handles nearly 30,000 calls per year from children as young as 5 years old. The service has helped thousands of young people across New Zealand for the past 13 years.
If you have any questions or would like additional information on how OfficeMax can help your business, contact your OfficeMax account manager or email [email protected].
Updated January 2024.
