Staples, Inc.

ReportAlert! Staples Publishes 2005 Corporate Responsibility Report

May 11, 2006

Staples, Inc. has released its 2005 Corporate Responsibility Report, available at www.staples.com/soul. The report describes Staples’ initiatives, accomplishments, and future objectives within four key areas: sustaining the natural environment, supporting local communities, cultivating a diverse and highly engaged workforce, and fostering a culture of integrity.

Staples’ corporate responsibility achievements for fiscal year 2005 include:

Increased the amount of post-consumer recycled content by weight across all paper products sold from 23% in 2004 to 30% in 2005.

Selected Ashoka, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing social entrepreneurs worldwide, as a global charity partner for Staples Foundation for Learning®.

Established a new director-level position within the North American Delivery business to drive improvements to the company’s diversity supplier programs.

Provided online ethics training to over 7,000 associates and established a global third-party ethics help line to ensure that associates can confidentially ask questions and report concerns.

Member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index in 2005 and selected for inclusion in the 2006 index.

A summary of the report is provided within Staples’ 2005 Annual Report and at www.staples.com/soul. To provide feedback on Staples’ corporate responsibility report or programs, please email [email protected], referencing corporate responsibility in the subject line.

Staples, Inc. founded the office supplies superstore industry in 1986, and is now the world’s largest office products company, with $16.1 billion in sales and 69,000 talented associates. Staples makes it easy for customers to purchase a wide range of office products, including office supplies, technology, furniture, and business services.

Visit www.CorporateRegister.com to access this publication together with a further 11,000 CSR reports.