Manitoba Wildlands  

Forest Campaign Takes Aim at Tissue Manufacturers

 25 November 04


tissue box Calling on the maker of Kleenex and Scott tissue products to stop destroying ancient forests, Greenpeace Canada and NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) launched an international campaign against Kimberly-Clark for its primary role in destroying Canada's boreal forest. The groups want the company, the world's leading tissue product manufacturer, to use significantly more post-consumer recycled paper or agricultural residues in its products.

In 2003, Kimberly-Clark produced more than 1,275,000 tons of tissue products in North America, of which more than 30 percent came from pulp made from Canada's ancient boreal forest. The company relies on recycled sources for only 19 percent of the pulp it uses in North America to make toilet paper, facial tissue, napkins and paper towels for home use. The company uses no recycled content at all to manufacture grocery store brands such as Kleenex and Scott. Companies such as Cascades - Canada's second largest tissue product manufacturer - meets 96 percent of its pulp requirements with recycled fiber.

The conservation groups are demanding that Kimberly-Clark:
  • Decide to stop using wood fiber from endangered forests in regions such as the Canadian boreal forest.
  • Decide to stop producing tissue products using only virgin wood fibers and instead maximize the percentage of post-consumer recycled content and agricultural residues in all of its products.
  • Buy from Forest Stewardship Council eco-certified forestry operations for the virgin wood fibers it does use. (Learn more about the Forest Stewardship Council.)
  • Assure that none of its operations use mercury-based pulping chemicals.
View the NRDC November 18, 2004 press release
View the NRDC Backgrounder 'Kimberly-Clark: A Major Destroyer of Ancient Forests'
View the GreenPeace KleerCut web site


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