Kleercut activists launch blockade of Kimberly-Clark facility

Kimberly-Clark refuses to stop destroying ancient forests for its Kleenex, Scott, and Cottonelle products, so Kleercut activists launched a blockade of the company’s New Milford, Connecticut facility today. This massive plant accounts for 40% of the Kleenex and Scott products sold in the United States, yet most products made at the New Milford facility contain little or no recycled fiber.

The blockade started around 11:00 AM local time when three activists locked themselves to the South Gate of the facility, halting truck traffic in and out of the gate. In the meantime, two activists put tree seedlings on the windshields of the cars in the employee parking lot. A note attached to the seedlings read: “We know Kimberly-Clark can do better. Here is a start.” A Kleercut campaign fact sheet, which requested that Kimberly-Clark employees “ask KC to be an environmental leader,” also accompanied the seedlings.

As a paper company – and, in fact, the largest tissue maker in the world – Kimberly-Clark has an obvious responsibility to protect forests. Yet the company has consistently failed to do so. Kimberly-Clark has been unwilling to create a fiber policy that increases the use of recycled fiber, and continues to destroy ancient forests to make its products, which are used once and then quite literally flushed down the toilet. Each year Kimberly-Clark removes some 342,000 metric tons of fiber from Canada’s Boreal forest – most of which is harvested using the immensely destructive clearcutting practice.

If you are interested in learning more about the Kleercut campaign please visit our Kleenex Free Schools project and take a look at our latest report on Kimberly-Clark’s destruction of the Kenogami forest in Ontario, Canada.