What's it take to get the makers of Kleenex to protect forests as vigilantly as they protect profits? Kimberly-Clark (K-C), the parent company of Kleenex, Scott, Cottonelle, and Viva, will be holding its annual shareholder meeting in Dallas at the end of the month, and we plan to be there to push for forest protection. In the run up to the meeting, we'll be focusing a lot of attention on K-C's destructive business practices, starting with the video we released today, entitled "What's inside your box of Kleenex?"
The answer, of course, is that every box of Kleenex is filled with ancient forests, since K-C doesn't use recycled content in most of its consumer paper products. The "What's inside your box of Kleenex?"video shows just how much forest destruction K-C is packing into every box.
Tissue Guide provides consumers with alternatives to Kimberly-Clark's forest destruction
We released the Greenpeace Recycled Tissue and Toilet Paper Guide in February to help consumers find alternatives to K-C's forest-destroying products. The story was picked up by the New York Times, The Guardian, and several other media outlets around the world, reflecting the growing concern about this issue.
K-C continues to wipe away ancient forests to make disposable products because the company does not have a comprehensive plan for protecting forests, as evidenced by the conflicting messages the company recently sent about their business practices. For instance, last month a K-C spokesman told the New York Times that only 14% of the virgin fiber used by the company globally comes from the North American Boreal forest, yet their 2009 Sustainable Fiber Fact Sheet claims it is much lower. Either the company does not care to track how much forest destruction they're causing, or they don't want to report the actual amount. Either way, this is unacceptable.
The exact levels of forest destruction being caused by K-C is, of course, not the issue. K-C should have a plan for protecting forests that ensures it's not buying any virgin fiber from the Boreal or any other Endangered Forests - especially since the company itself has admitted that recycled fiber can provide "the product softness and quality consumers have come to expect from the Kleenex brand" (read more here).
More video, events planned this month
Kimberly-Clark's annual shareholder meeting brings executives, boardmembers, and shareholders together to chart a course for the company over the next year. It is the most important meeting K-C holds all year, so we plan on sending a strong message about protecting forests. It's time K-C made forest protection as integral to their plans as profit protection.
We have more video, a series of events, and much more planned for the month leading up to the shareholder meeting, all of which is aimed at reminding K-C that destroying ancient forests doesn't pay.
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