A high-five for Mattell Inc.! The manufacturer of Barbie and Ken dolls said it has agreed to stop buying paper and packaging products linked to rainforest destruction, the environmental activist group Greenpeace trumpeted.
As part of its new commitments, Mattel is instructing its suppliers to avoid wood fibre from companies "that are known to be involved in deforestation," Greenpeace said in a statement. One such firm is Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), a Jakarta-based company that owns five pulp mills in Canada, the Toronto Star reports.
Mattell also introduced new sustainable sourcing principles, including a commitment to have 70 per cent of its packaging come from recycled material or sustainable fibre by the end of this year, and 85 per cent by the end of 2015.
"We're very happy that Barbie retired her pink chainsaw," Richard Brooks, a Greenpeace Canada spokesperson told the Ottawa Citizen.
Meanwhile, APP, while praising Mattell's decision, also cautioned other companies not to limit their procurement policies to the standards set by the international Forest Stewardship Council. APP officials said the FSC discriminates against products from Indonesia and other developing markets.
"There is substantial publicly available information that suggests that APP, a Sinar Mas subsidiary, is associated with destructive forestry practices," the Citizen quoted an FSC statement from 2007. "As a result, the FSC board of directors decided to end the use of the FSC name and trademarks by APP and subsidiaries in which APP is the majority shareholder."
APP can also expect Greenpeace to shine a spotlight on it and its business practices however. Greenpeace Canada said it plans to launch a new awareness campaign within weeks aimed at APP's activities in North America.
"Greenpeace claims the company uses pulp obtained from its mills in Canada and then mixed with rainforest materials to make tissue and paper products in China that are then shipped back to North America for sale at prices 20 to 30 per cent below local manufacturers. Greenpeace said it plans to issue a list of names of companies that sell Asia Pulp and Paper's products in North America and encourage consumers to avoid them."
In its own defence, a spokesman for APP Canada denied that its practices are harming pristine rainforests in Indonesia. Ian Lifshitz, sustainability manager for APP Canada, said recently that the company was "strongly committed to sustainability," and ensuring it is not engaging in illegal logging, the Vancouver Sun reports.
"We think we go beyond government compliance. We have a very strong commitment toward the Indonesian people and sustaining the rainforest."
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