Sprint Pushes the Envelope to Reduce Paper and Its Environmental Footprint

New Two-in-One ecoEnvelope™ Helps Sprint and Its Customers Preserve the Environment – One Bill at a Time

SAN DIEGO (BUSINESS WIRE), June 06, 2012 – Today at the Sustainable Brands Conference, Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S, news, filings), named No. 3 on Newsweek’s 2011 Green Rankings, unveiled how it will help change the face of customer invoicing and direct mail with an inventive two-in-one reusable envelope. The new ecoEnvelope™ allows customers to receive and remit payment using the same envelope – making bill payment easier, minimizing mail costs, reducing paper use, and lowering environmental impact.

Sprint’s new two-in-one reusable envelope (Photo: Business Wire)

According to the Federal Network on Sustainability, the U.S. pulp and paper industry is the second largest consumer of energy and uses more water to produce a ton of product than any other industry. The new envelope means customers reduce paper waste and conserve natural resources. In just over a year, Sprint estimates the new envelope format will save just under a half million dollars in operational costs and the equivalent* of:

• 447 tons of paper
• 1,669 tons of wood, or 11,565 trees
• 9,931,834 gallons of water, or 15 Olympic-sized swimming pools
• 859,047 pounds of solid waste, or 31 loaded garbage trucks
• 2,692,185 pounds of CO2e, or 244 cars off the road/year

* Equivalencies courtesy of the Environmental Paper Network Paper Calculator

“Sprint is the first wireless carrier and only one of a few select retailers to offer the ecoEnvelope™ to their customers,” said Scott Rice, vice president-Care and Billing Services, Sprint. “While more than 30 percent of Sprint accounts currently use a paperless billing option, many customers prefer to receive a paper invoice. The new bill format not only gives our customers a convenient method to remit payment but it will reduce paper waste, conserve natural resources, and lower paper consumption for Sprint. As part of our commitment to environmental sustainability, using paper responsibly to reduce our footprint is an important part of our overall commitment.”

Last year Sprint was honored for its commitment to environmental paper policies by Forest Ethics – an environmental organization that has secured the protection of more than 65 million acres of endangered forest. Sprint was the only Fortune 500 company on the 2011 report card to get an “A.”

The shift to ecoEnvelope was part of Sprint’s broader commitment to responsibly procure printing paper as reflected in its recently updated Paper & Print Procurement Policy. The policy highlights Sprint’s commitment to support sustainable forest management, work with environmentally and socially responsible suppliers, purchase paper with more recycled content, and optimize its paper use.

Sprint’s policy was updated with support from environmental not-for-profit Canopy, which specializes in collaborating with large-scale forest product customers to ensure sustainable supply chains. The results of this collaboration include Sprint’s commitment to raise its goal for use of recycled content to 25 percent by 2017, support innovation by encouraging development of alternative paper fiber sources, such as residue from agricultural crops, and reduce the toxic chlorine in bleaching.

The new policy also includes commitments to pursue supplier assessments with Canopy using Chain of Custody forms to ensure Sprint paper products do not come from endangered forests and other controversial sources, and to work with Canopy to encourage progress on global forest conservation initiatives.

“Sprint and Canopy share the belief businesses can lead environmental change, and together we have created a policy which ensures Sprint continues to do that,” said Rice. “With Canopy’s support we are making purchasing decisions that will sustain both our business and the environment.”

“Sprint is already well-known as an environmental leader among the Fortune 100, and recent updates to their Paper & Print Procurement Policy further distinguishes the company from its competitors in this area,” said Amanda Carr, campaigns director, Canopy. “And today they have acted on that policy with this major step in reducing their paper use.”

About Sprint Nextel

Sprint Nextel offers a comprehensive range of wireless and wireline communications services bringing the freedom of mobility to consumers, businesses and government users. Sprint Nextel served more than 56 million customers at the end of the first quarter of 2012 and is widely recognized for developing, engineering and deploying innovative technologies, including the first wireless 4G service from a national carrier in the United States; offering industry-leading mobile data services, leading prepaid brands including Virgin Mobile USA, Boost Mobile, and Assurance Wireless; instant national and international push-to-talk capabilities; and a global Tier 1 Internet backbone. Newsweek ranked Sprint No. 3 in its 2011 Green Rankings, listing it as one of the nation’s greenest companies, the highest of any telecommunications company. You can learn more and visit Sprint at www.sprint.com or www.facebook.com/sprint and www.twitter.com/sprint.

About ecoEnvelopes

ecoEnvelopes is an environmental company that designs reusable 2-way envelopes and mailing solutions that reduce mail costs and benefit the environment. The company partners with licensed manufacturers to produce mailing solutions for nonprofits, direct mail marketers and statement mailers across the United States. ecoEnvelopes mail solutions are manufactured exclusively on certified papers from managed forests with up to 100% post-consumer recycled content. The company’s innovative products meet the growing desire of corporations, organizations and consumers to participate in environmental stewardship. To learn more visit www.ecoenvelopes.com.

About Canopy

Canopy is a not-for-profit conservation organization dedicated to protecting the world’s forests, species and climate. We believe collaboration is the key, and we work with Sprint and more than 700 other large-scale forest product consumers to develop purchasing policies, strategies and solutions that meet business goals and protect the world’s forests. Learn more at www.canopyplanet.org, www.facebook.com/canopyplanet, or follow @canopyplanet on Twitter.

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