Kleenex - wiping away Canadian
forests, one sheet of toilet paper at a time
26/01/2005 — Kimberly-Clark is the largest
tissue product company in the world, making
brands such as Kleenex. But every time you
flush a piece of Kleenex toilet paper you're
also flushing away Canada's oldest forests.
In North America, less than 19 percent of
the pulp Kimberly-Clark uses for its disposable
tissue products (including toilet paper, facial
tissue, napkins and paper towels) comes from
recycled sources. The rest is made from forests,
many of which have existed for thousands of
years. For example, Kimberly-Clark's own documents
show that it is logging intact forests in
the Canadian Boreal containing trees that
are upwards of 180 years old. The Boreal forest
is the largest ancient forest left in North
America and the habitat of such species as
grizzly and black bears, woodland caribou,
wolves, bald eagles, and boreal owls.
Kleercut
Much of the virgin tree fibre Kimberly-Clark
uses for its tissue products comes from unsustainably
logged forests. These forests are predominantly
logged in clearcuts - a devastating form of
logging where most if not all trees are removed
from an area of forest. What's left behind
is a barren landscape that can no longer support
wildlife species.
Gettin' snotty
Kimberly-Clark claims to be an environmental
leader. But for decades they have unsustainably
cleared ancient forests to manufacture products
that are used only once and then thrown away.
Action in Toronto against Kleenex, one of
the world's most popular tissue brands. The
company sources paper from clearcut ancient
forests.
Tissue products containing high amounts of
recycled and FSC-certified fibres are of comparable
quality and price to virgin fibre products
- despite Kimberly-Clark's claims to the contrary.
(For examples, see the Canadian Shoppers Guide).
Here are two of the most important actions
that concerned consumers can take:
• Stop buying Kimberly-Clark products including
Kleenex brand products and start buying forest
friendly alternatives, and
• Let Kimberly-Clark know that you want them
to stop clearcutting ancient forests like
Canada's Boreal. You can send them a message
at kleercut.net
Pulp fiction
Although Kimberly-Clark will tell you that
they buy their pulp from sustainably managed
forests, the majority of its pulp is actually
from logging operations that do not meet our
recognized standard of sustainability. We
consider only one set of standards to be a
credible measure of sustainability: the Forest
Stewardship Council's (FSC) management and
certification system.
Many of the logging companies that Kimberly-Clark
does buy pulp from are certified by such schemes
as the Sustainable Forestry Initiative or
the Canadian Standards Association. Both of
these systems are created by industry for
industry and are neither ecologically nor
socially progressive.
Don't flush ancient forests down the toilet
- take action!
Greenpeace Canada and its allies including
activists like you are asking Kimberly-Clark
to:
• Immediately stop purchasing virgin fibre
from endangered forests
• Drastically increase the amount of recycled
fibre that they use for all their tissue products
including Kleenex brand toilet paper, facial
tissue and napkins
• Begin purchasing fibre from Forest Stewardship
Council (FSC) eco-certified forests. The FSC
is the only guarantee that forests are managed
sustainably.
• Phase out the use of damaging chlorine dioxide
to bleach tissue
