Feb. 20, 2008 - Office Depot has begun construction on its first retail location to be built according to the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED green certification scheme. When completed this summer, the new store in Austin, Texas, will be one of the first buildings registered under the LEED Portfolio Program, a pilot process for developing green-store prototypes that can help retail chains achieve LEED certification at numerous locations.

In addition to incorporating energy-, waste-, and water-saving technologies, the new Austin store will sell environmentally preferable products and offer recycling services for ink and toner, electronics, cellphones, and rechargeable batteries.

“Office Depot has an environmental vision to increasingly buy green, be green, and sell green,” says to Yalmaz Siddiqui, the company's environmental strategy advisor.

Office Depot currently operates more than 1,200 retail outlets in the U.S.