What’s in Your Package?

Consumer product companies, beware! A well-known environmental group is putting the heat on marketers to eliminate certain sources of material from its packaging.

After pressure from Greenpeace, Hasbro, the second largest toy company in the US, today announced a new global policy aimed at ensuring tropical rainforest timber and wood from other controversial sources is not used in its packaging.

Hasbro join a growing number of companies – including Mattel and the Food Lion supermarket chain – which have acted to cut ties with the Indonesian company Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), a group which Greenpeace claims is involved in widespread forest clearance in the region.

“Hasbro’s move is the latest sign that Asia Pulp and Paper is bad for Indonesia’s forests and bad for Indonesia’s reputation”, said Bustar Maitar of Greenpeace South East Asia. “The company’s forest destruction is threatening the Indonesian President’s commitment to save the forests. Stopping deforestation is good business for everyone”.

Hasbro joins a number of other major global companies that have recently announced they will stop buying from APP. These include:

• Mattel – the world’s largest toy company
• Delhaize, the second largest retailer in Belgium and owner of the Food Lion chain in the US
• The Warehouse, New Zealand’s largest group of department stores
• Metcash, one of Australia’s largest supermarket chains
• Montblanc, the famous luxury pen maker
• Tchibo, the world’s fifth largest coffee roaster
• Cartamundi, the world’s leading maker of playing cards

Greenpeace US Senior Forest Campaigner Rolf Skar commented:

“Large global corporations like Hasbro have looked at the evidence and decided that APP currently represents a significant brand risk.

“Other companies which choose to look the other way should be aware that there may well be rainforest destruction in their paper supply chain, and that they will eventually be exposed.”

Banking group ING has also ceased providing banking services for an APP subsidiary this year, and have refused to do business with APP because the pulp and paper company is in contravention of the bank’s forestry policy.

These companies have joined other large well-known businesses that have excluded APP from their supply chains in the past. These include the stationary giant Staples which concluded in 2008 that APP is a ‘great peril to our brand’ as well global consumer goods companies such as Kraft, Nestle, Unilever, Carrefour, Metro Group, Tesco, and Adidas.

Indonesia is the first developing country to set ambitious targets to reduce deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions and to tackle climate change. But the President’s plans continue to be undermined by APP activities.

Areas being cleared include those mapped as habitat for the endangered Sumatran tiger and peatland areas more than three metres deep – a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. Land clearance fires were also identified inside two APP concession areas. Both the development of deep peat areas and the use of fire to clear land are prohibited under Indonesian regulations.

Earlier this year, APP’s sister company, Golden Agri Resources, introduced new policies to tackle deforestation. It has since started to win back the customers it had lost in the international market place, including Nestle.

“APP must follow Golden Agri’s lead and immediately commit to an end to deforestation”, concluded Maitar.