Staples Canada recently released its 2025 Community Impact and Sustainability Report, marking the completion of its five-year Goals for a Greener Future program and introducing a new four-pillar sustainability framework to guide its environmental commitments.
The report also highlights record fundraising efforts in support of health equity and a milestone moment for the annual Staples School Supply Drive, which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2025, raising more than $1.16 million for students across Canada, it said.
“Each year, we set ambitious goals to strengthen our commitment to environment, equity and education in the communities we serve,” said Jens Cermak, CEO, Staples Canada. “Our new sustainability framework reflects how we’re evolving – moving from individual targets to driving cumulative, measurable impact across our entire business. I’m proud of what our team and partners have built, and I’m energized by what’s ahead.”
Environment: A New Chapter in Sustainability
Staples Canada said its Goals for a Greener Future, launched in 2020, set bold recycling and waste diversion targets. With the program now complete, the company is sharing the results and introducing the framework that will replace it.
Over the course of the five-year program, Staples Canada said it met the following recycling and waste diversion targets:
- Technology Recycling: More than 14,000 metric tonnes.
- Writing Instrument Recycling: More than 12 million units. In partnership with TerraCycle, Staples Canada has Canada’s only national writing instrument recycling program, which is approaching its 20th anniversary.
- Ink and Toner Recycling: More than 9.2 million units.
- Battery Recycling: More than 2.34 million kilograms since 2004. This achievement earned Staples Canada the 2025 Leaders in Sustainability Award from Call2Recycle, recognizing outstanding environmental leadership in responsible battery recycling across Canada.
An Updated Sustainability Framework for 2026 and Beyond
Starting in 2026, Staples Canada said it is replacing its fixed-target model with a progress-driven approach centred around four pillars that reflect changing consumer interests and evolving industry regulations:
- Waste Diversion and Circular Economy
- Climate Action and Carbon Management
- Sustainable Products and Services
- Community Impact
Reducing Carbon Emissions
“In 2025, Staples Canada expanded its electric vehicle (EV) fleet with 10 new EVs, building on its initial rollout in 2023, and extending its EV presence to Vancouver, Laval, Winnipeg, and Calgary. The EVs also use smart routing software to identify the most efficient delivery routes, further reducing emissions. Additionally, since 2013, the company has partnered with Bullfrog Power to power its Print production centres, Solution Shops, Studio co-working spaces and select stores across Canada with 100 per cent clean, renewable electricity, displacing more than 36,000 tonnes of CO2e over the course of the partnership,” said the retailer.
Strengthening Sustainability Partnerships
In 2025, Staples Canada deepened its long-standing partnerships with Tree Canada, Call2Recycle, TerraCycle, and eCycle, celebrating major milestones and raising associate awareness around joint initiatives. The company’s 17-year partnership with Tree Canada has resulted in more than 256,000 trees planted in underserved communities across Canada, it added.
“Staples also became the first company to pilot the Bullfrog Environmental Token technology, launched at its Burlington, Ontario store grand opening. These digital tokens provide long-term traceability of a store’s environmental impacts, and the technology is expected to become available to other Bullfrog Power partners in 2026,” it said.
Equity: Fostering a New Way to Give Back Through Innovative Partnerships
Staples Canada said its flagship Even the Odds initiative reached a four-year milestone in 2025, with total fundraising for MAP – Canada’s largest health equity research centre – growing from an initial $5 million commitment to more than $9 million raised. In 2025 alone, customers, team members, vendor-partners, and a corporate match donation combined to raise more than $2 million for MAP’s evidence-based community health programs.
Education: 20 Years of Breaking Down Barriers to Learning
“In 2025, Staples Canada’s annual School Supply Drive celebrated its 20th anniversary, raising a record $1.16 million for students across Canada — the most in any single year since the program launched in 2005 — and bringing its cumulative total to more than $18 million. Through longstanding partnerships with United Way/Centraide and Kiwanis, Staples Canada continued to break down barriers to learning from coast to coast,” it said.
Staples Canada, headquartered in Richmond Hill, Ontario, has close to 300 stores across Canada.
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