This week APP/Cottonsoft fired their latest public relations salvo to hide the fact they are destroying rainforests in Indonesia to make throw away paper products. They claimed that tests by one of the world's most respected fibre testing labs in USA had got it wrong, and that a set of alternative tests from a  an Australian group of pulp and paper engineering consultants proved there was no rainforest fibre in their tissue.

Now any reasonable company would have launched an immediate investigation to identify how the rainforest fibre got in there. Any responsible company would have immediately committed to ensure that it will not use fibre from rainforests in any of its production.  But not APP/Cottonsoft. They instead went on the offensive with an ill judged PR diversion.  But scratch the surface and it all falls apart.

Where are their full test results? Not available. Which products were tested? No information provided. Did the lab actually look for or identify any mixed tropical hardwoods. Not clear.  And the bottom line is that two separate independent labs have already confirmed that some APP/Cottonsoft products contain mixed tropical hardwoods, ie fibres from rainforests. Why isn't the company dealing with this issue?

I think a big part of the answer is in the fact that Cottonsoft is not a kiwi company - they were bought out by giant Indonesian and China paper giant  APP (Asia Pulp and Paper) in 2007 - and thus major decisions are being are made by bosses in Indonesia not New Zealand.

APP can produce cheap pulp in Indonesia, turn it into tissue stock, then ship it to NZ in big rolls to be cut down to size and sold in competition to NZ grown plantation tissue products such as SCA's purex or handee This is a company that cares about it's profits not about the environment or NZ jobs. It's also a company that is spending huge amounts on PR greenwash as an alternative to actually reforming its practices. Recently the Dutch advertising watchdog ruled APP's environmental claims made in TV and print ads were misleading and not balanced with information about APP being a company clearing forests for pulp.

Maybe APP haven't registered yet that most New Zealanders will vote with their wallets when choosing household products. They can try greenwash like they do with their Paseo brand but once consumers understand that APP/Cottonsoft are using former tiger habitat in their products then they will buy elsewhere.  Already many of the world's major companies have concluded they want nothing to do with APP until they stop destroying indonesia's rainforests. Among them are Mattel,  Hasbro, Lego, , Kraft, Unilever, Nestle, Adidas, and The Warehouse here in NZ.

In a remarkable co incidence, over the time period that  Greenpeace has been successfully targeting APP in international markets Greenpeace in Indonesia has been targeted in a 'black' campaign that has led to two international staff being deported, demonstrations against us, claims that we aren't legally registered in Indonesia and threats to close our Jakarta office.

However, we are undeterred by this intimidation. We will continue to document APP's devastating impact on Indonesia's magnificent rainforests and encourage consumers globally to make more responsible choices, by avoiding  APP products, including those of Cottonsoft, until there is an end to the destruction. We have no choice if we want Sumatran tigers to survive in the wild and to halt the disastrous climate impacts that come from rainforest clearance.

I've been working with Greenpeace as a forests campaigner for nearly 20 years now in NZ, Australia and Indonesia amongst other places. I've seen the damage being done to the rainforests all over the Asia Pacific region by logging companies like APP and it's not something NZ should have any part of.

Send a message now to NZ supermarkets urging them to take Cottonsoft products off the shelves.