Xerox, Danone and unit of Collins publishers vow to boycott paper made by APP; other multinationals said to be considering joining effort launched by Greenpeace after it alleged APP illegally logged ramin wood in Indonesia
Sandy Yang
LOS ANGELES
,
April 2, 2012
(Industry Intelligence)
–
Three multinational corporations said they are boycotting paper made by Asia Pulp and Paper Co. Ltd. (APP), and more are said to be considering doing likewise due to claims by Greenpeace that APP illegally logged ramin wood in Indonesia, reported the Guardian on April 2.
Xerox Corp., Groupe Danone, and the Collins Debden unit of Collins publishers in the U.K. said they would stop or suspend purchases from APP permanently or until they can verify that APP is producing sustainable paper products.
Paris-based food company Danone said it would “suspend all purchases from this supplier whenever possible under law, until the situation has been clarified and confirmed by independent stakeholders,” the Guardian reported.
The ban will take effect starting this June and applies to all of Danone’s subsidiaries. About 1.5% of the company’s paperboard packaging, amounting to about 7,500 tonnes per year, is supplied by APP.
Collins Debden, the dairy publisher, said that it “does not procure raw material” that originates from APP, reported the Guardian.
Xerox stated that it had a longstanding policy not to buy from APP, but confirmed that it had uncovered a transaction involving APP paper at its Xerox European unit in 2011. That has stopped, corrective actions were taken, and the company is reinforcing its APP paper ban, Xerox stated.
The Norwalk, Connecticut-based IT and printing supplies company issued the statement in March, according to a March 19 report in the Democrat and Chronicle that was posted on IndustryIntel.com the same day.
Xerox’s response came after Greenpeace revealed that at least one of Xerox’s subsidiaries had used APP paper as recently as last year, the Guardian reported.
APP said that it was committed to complying with Indonesia law and would provide an update on the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry’s investigation into the ramin issue, once the process is completed.
In a yearlong study, Greenpeace found evidence that APP was logging ramin trees in Indonesia’s rainforest and asked companies to boycott APP, reported the Guardian.
The primary source of this article is the Guardian, London, England, on April 2, 2012.
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