Kleenex will no longer be made from virgin forests

A billboard posted outside of Kimberly-Clark
headquarters, makers of Kleenex tissues.
This is the NRDC and Greenpeace's latest
step to force the manufactures to use
recycled and sustainable materials in
their products. (Photo: Courtesy of
NRDC and Greenpeace)

Just a few days after Greenpeace claimed victory in pressuring Nike and Timberland to stop buying leather from unsustainable ranches that are deforesting in the Amazon, it is celebrating an agreement with Kimberly-Clark that should stop the unsustainable cutting of forests that go into the making of Kleenex and other paper products.

Greenpeace had waged a five-year campaign it called "Kleercut," targeting Kimberly-Clark for its policies on sourcing forest products.

Kimberly-Clark is the largest tissue maker in the world, producing more than 4 million tons annually, at a profit of billions of dollars. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the tissue giant owns the Kleenex, Scott, Viva, Cottonelle, Kotex, and Huggies brands. The company had, according to Greenpeace, used "virgin" fiber from clear-cut ancient forests in the Canadian boreal, only to produce disposable tissue products that are used once and discarded.

The company's new policy is to use only wood fiber from environmentally responsible sources. Kimberly-Clark's other brands include Cottonelle and Scott.

Specifically, by the end of 2011, Kimberly-Clark will stop using any forest products derived from the Canadian boreal unless that wood is Forest Stewardship Council certified, and the company will ensure that 40% of its North American tissue fiber is either recycled or Forest Stewardship Council-certified, an increase of more than 70% over 2007 levels.

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Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc

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