Showing posts with label ethical paper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ethical paper. Show all posts
02 August, 2011
Sumatra - Paper/Tiger
Foreign Correspondent - ABC, Broadcast: 02/08/2011
One respected authority who’s seen it first-hand doesn’t mince his words. The rate and scale of forest clearing in Sumatra by big paper producers approaches ecological Armageddon.
“I thought I’d seen, you know, impressive deforestation in the Amazon and parts of Africa. But what’s happening there (Sumatra) on a large industrial scale is pretty daunting …some of the worst forest destruction I’ve ever seen anywhere.” BILL LAURANCE Forest Scientist
Riau province in Sumatra is home to the world’s biggest paper plant. It’s owned and run by Asia Pacific Resources International Ltd, better known by the more disarming acronym APRIL. The company has embarked on a massive land clearing project, removing natural stands of timber and replanting fast-growing acacia trees and when it’s done it says the plantation timber alone will feed the plant. APRIL describes this program as sustainable and certainly preferable to the ad hoc land clearing and burning which blights so much of the Indonesia archipelago.
“We’re doing it in a responsible way in line with what the Indonesian government wants to promote as part of developing forestry and if we don’t do it the way we’re doing it, it can be even worse.” DAVID KERR Director of Operations, APRIL
As the carbon debate rages in Australia, Indonesia correspondent Matt Brown ventures into the rapidly diminishing Sumatran jungle, destruction adding dramatically to Indonesia’s greenhouse gas outputs and catapulting the nation high up the list of the world’s worst emitters.
Foreign Correspondent focuses on the activities of APRIL in Riau province where its gargantuan development has led to a bustling town of 250,000 people, many working for and benefitting from APRIL’s plantation and factory. It produces office paper sold by some of Australia’s largest retailers.
But our team explores beyond what APRIL proffers as a model development, to investigate claims of corruption in a nearby area where logging companies appear to have bribed their way into operation. An APRIL subsidiary has been implicated in a paper trail leading to a powerful local political figure now in jail for accepting bribes in return for production permits.
And we investigate the implications of major plantation and milling development on Sumatra’s sensitive and carbon-loaded peat beds. As the bulldozers move through the peat beds, peat dries in the sun and enormous clouds of greenhouse gas are expelled into the atmosphere.
Environmentalists and many villagers worry about the dramatic changes reshaping the land and also about the plight of residents who’ve been there a lot longer than most - like the Sumatran tiger.
“It breaks my heart because they have a right to live here and they’re even here before us, but people just keep taking so much from them. I feel really sorry for the tigers because there will be more forests destroyed.” KARMILA PARAKKASIA WWF
Further Information
As part of our investigation we sought input from two major companies who sell and distribute APRIL paper in Australia. We asked Officeworks and Fuji Xerox to answer a number of questions. Officeworks hasn’t responded, but here’s what Fuji Xerox had to say.
02 May, 2011
Do you agree with Yarra Ranges Council ban of Reflex paper?
Kimberley Seedy
Lilydale & Yarra Valley Leader, 2 May 2011
YARRA Ranges Council is encouraging consumers and other councils to follow their lead in boycotting Reflex paper.
Councillors agreed last week to sign the Ethical Paper Pledge to encourage consumers of paper not to buy Reflex until its makers stop using native forest timber pulp in their products.
At last week’s meeting, Cr Samantha Dunn proposed the council support the ban.
The campaign against Reflex, started by the Wilderness Society in February, encourages organisations to sign a pledge “to protect Melbourne’s water supply, prevent the extinction of iconic species, and halt the daily release of large amounts of carbon dioxide in Victoria’s forests”.
Cr Dunn said the decision would have no financial impact on the council because it did not use Reflex.
But Cr Chris Templer said it wasn’t appropriate to target a specific company.
Cr Len Cox backed the campaign, saying: “The fact that old growth forests are being logged at all is a disgrace.”
Australian Paper, manufacturer of Reflex, has started a website defending its practices.
It states more than half of total fibre needs are met from plantation wood, recycled pulp and wastepaper from kerbside collections, and the rest is sourced through VicForests, a State Government enterprise responsible for the sustainable harvest and commercial sale of wood from state forests.
Do you agree with Yarra Ranges decision to ban Reflex paper?
Lilydale & Yarra Valley Leader, 2 May 2011
YARRA Ranges Council is encouraging consumers and other councils to follow their lead in boycotting Reflex paper.
Councillors agreed last week to sign the Ethical Paper Pledge to encourage consumers of paper not to buy Reflex until its makers stop using native forest timber pulp in their products.
At last week’s meeting, Cr Samantha Dunn proposed the council support the ban.
The campaign against Reflex, started by the Wilderness Society in February, encourages organisations to sign a pledge “to protect Melbourne’s water supply, prevent the extinction of iconic species, and halt the daily release of large amounts of carbon dioxide in Victoria’s forests”.
Cr Dunn said the decision would have no financial impact on the council because it did not use Reflex.
But Cr Chris Templer said it wasn’t appropriate to target a specific company.
Cr Len Cox backed the campaign, saying: “The fact that old growth forests are being logged at all is a disgrace.”
Australian Paper, manufacturer of Reflex, has started a website defending its practices.
It states more than half of total fibre needs are met from plantation wood, recycled pulp and wastepaper from kerbside collections, and the rest is sourced through VicForests, a State Government enterprise responsible for the sustainable harvest and commercial sale of wood from state forests.
Do you agree with Yarra Ranges decision to ban Reflex paper?
01 February, 2011
Google under fire for dumping paper ad
Julian Lee
Sydney Morning Herald, February 1, 2011
GOOGLE has been accused of stifling free speech after it banned an ad attacking a paper manufacturer over its environmental record.
The Wilderness Society paid to have its ad on Google promoting a boycott against a paper manufacturer that uses wood sourced from Australian old growth forests.
When web users typed ''office paper'', ''office stationery'' or the brand names Australian Paper and Reflex into Google, a link to the Wilderness Society's website, Ethical Paper, would appear at the top of the search engine's listings.
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But after a complaint by the company at the centre of the boycott, Australian Paper, Google removed the ads saying that because the society did not own the trademark for the popular paper brand, Reflex, it could not use the name in its ads.
Google says it introduced the policy in 2002 to protect the intellectual copyright of advertisers.
But the Wilderness Society's Sydney campaigner Peter Cooper said Google's policy did not apply as his organisation was not trying to sell anything but rather to bring an issue to the public's attention.
''The internet is a very important place for debate in our society and an issue as important as this needs to discussed in a public forum and a policy such as this prevents that,'' he said.
The society's Google ads have since been replaced by one for an Australian Paper website defending its environmental policies. Turning the table on the society, the paper manufacturer has bought the search terms ''ethical paper'' in order to generate traffic to its site rather than the society's. However by yesterday afternoon the ads had disappeared from Google.
Freedom of speech campaigners said Google was using its muscle - more than 90 per cent of online searches in Australia are on Google - to prevent a balanced debate.
The president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Cameron Murphy, said Google's behaviour was similar to that of other internet businesses such as Amazon and PayPal which, in the wake of the diplomatic cables dump last year, cited violations of their terms of service to sever ties with WikiLeaks.
''I am concerned Google is allowing a trademark policy to prevent one side of the debate from being heard,'' Mr Murphy said.
Google said it encouraged disputing parties to settle the differences between themselves. ''Google is not an arbiter of these disputes,'' a spokeswoman said.
Sydney Morning Herald, February 1, 2011
GOOGLE has been accused of stifling free speech after it banned an ad attacking a paper manufacturer over its environmental record.
The Wilderness Society paid to have its ad on Google promoting a boycott against a paper manufacturer that uses wood sourced from Australian old growth forests.
When web users typed ''office paper'', ''office stationery'' or the brand names Australian Paper and Reflex into Google, a link to the Wilderness Society's website, Ethical Paper, would appear at the top of the search engine's listings.
Advertisement: Story continues below
But after a complaint by the company at the centre of the boycott, Australian Paper, Google removed the ads saying that because the society did not own the trademark for the popular paper brand, Reflex, it could not use the name in its ads.
Google says it introduced the policy in 2002 to protect the intellectual copyright of advertisers.
But the Wilderness Society's Sydney campaigner Peter Cooper said Google's policy did not apply as his organisation was not trying to sell anything but rather to bring an issue to the public's attention.
''The internet is a very important place for debate in our society and an issue as important as this needs to discussed in a public forum and a policy such as this prevents that,'' he said.
The society's Google ads have since been replaced by one for an Australian Paper website defending its environmental policies. Turning the table on the society, the paper manufacturer has bought the search terms ''ethical paper'' in order to generate traffic to its site rather than the society's. However by yesterday afternoon the ads had disappeared from Google.
Freedom of speech campaigners said Google was using its muscle - more than 90 per cent of online searches in Australia are on Google - to prevent a balanced debate.
The president of the NSW Council for Civil Liberties, Cameron Murphy, said Google's behaviour was similar to that of other internet businesses such as Amazon and PayPal which, in the wake of the diplomatic cables dump last year, cited violations of their terms of service to sever ties with WikiLeaks.
''I am concerned Google is allowing a trademark policy to prevent one side of the debate from being heard,'' Mr Murphy said.
Google said it encouraged disputing parties to settle the differences between themselves. ''Google is not an arbiter of these disputes,'' a spokeswoman said.
31 January, 2011
Activists attack sustainability claim
Ben Butler
Sydney Morning Herald, January 31, 2011
ENVIRONMENTALISTS have made corporate Australia their number one target as they ramp up pressure on the producers of the top paper brand Reflex to stop using timber logged from native forests.
The battle between the Wilderness Society and Australian Paper has spilled into cyberspace: last week the company convinced Google to stop showing advertisements for the environmental organisation's ''ethical paper'' campaign.
Wilderness Society activists are planning to target Reflex stockists, including Wesfarmers' subsidiaries Officeworks and Coles and new US entrant Staples, which took over Corporate Express last year.
The organisation is also considering legal action against Australian Paper under the Trade Practices Act because a company website appears to endorse allegedly misleading fact sheets created by the Victorian government-owned logger, VicForests.
Luke Chamberlain, the Wilderness Society's Victorian forest campaigner, said woodchips from state-owned native forests received a government subsidy worth hundreds of millions of dollars, creating an unfair price advantage over plantation-sourced chips.
''It's not an even playing field here - this is corporate socialism whereby VicForests is acting as a middleman handing over a public asset for private profit,'' he said.
''The question to Australian Paper is why do we continue to rip out a public resource, extinguish a public asset, when [there are] perfectly good alternatives?''
He said the Wilderness Society had sent letters to corporate social responsibility officers at 2500 leading companies, and on Thursday began a phone campaign to follow up with the top 400 companies.
Fund managers will be the campaign's next targets, and the organisation is considering a print media advertising campaign.
Feedback from corporates so far had been ''incredibly positive'', Mr Chamberlain said. ''Obviously we're dealing with some of the major distributors of Australian Paper,'' he said. ''They don't want to have environment groups on their back - they spruik their environmental credentials and I think their branding is potentially at risk if we target them.''
Wesfarmers, Australia's eighth biggest company, already bears the scars of an earlier battle with the Wilderness Society. After a long campaign that included embarrassing protests outside its Bunnings hardware stores, the chain switched from native forest timber to plantation wood.
Mr Chamberlain said the Wilderness Society had been talking with Australian Paper about moving away from native forests for ''probably five to six years''.
''So far Australian Paper has buried its head in the sand,'' he said. The stoush flared up online last week with Google pulling down Wilderness Society advertisements that appeared above search results for Reflex, after a complaint from Australian Paper. The company, a subsidiary of Japan's Nippon Paper Group, has hit back with a website entitled ''Ethical paper - the facts'' that mimics features of the Wilderness Society's ethical paper campaign site.
On that website, its says more than half its total fibre needs come from plantation timber and recycled paper. ''The remainder is sourced through VicForests which is a Victorian government enterprise responsible for the sustainable harvest and commercial sale of wood from state forests,'' the company said.
In a separate statement issued on Friday, Australian Paper said it ''welcomes open discussion from all stakeholders about our performance''. It said it employed about 1200 people and the industry had been hit by the closure of two Tasmanian mills last year at a cost of 300 jobs.
''Our plight is not unlike that of Kimberly-Clark whose Millicent tissue mill in South Australia faces closure and the loss of 170 jobs in May,'' the company said. ''Our statements and claims are independently checked and comply with Australian Competition and Consumer Commission guidelines.''
Mr Chamberlain said VicForests fact sheets on the company's ethical paper - the facts website were ''mythology and propaganda''.
''We'll be taking that up now with the ACCC as part of this campaign.'' He said it was practical for Australian Paper to use only recycled paper and plantation-sourced timber.
''We're looking for Australian paper to show leadership in true sustainability and create a much greater recycled paper industry.''
Sydney Morning Herald, January 31, 2011
ENVIRONMENTALISTS have made corporate Australia their number one target as they ramp up pressure on the producers of the top paper brand Reflex to stop using timber logged from native forests.
The battle between the Wilderness Society and Australian Paper has spilled into cyberspace: last week the company convinced Google to stop showing advertisements for the environmental organisation's ''ethical paper'' campaign.
Wilderness Society activists are planning to target Reflex stockists, including Wesfarmers' subsidiaries Officeworks and Coles and new US entrant Staples, which took over Corporate Express last year.
The organisation is also considering legal action against Australian Paper under the Trade Practices Act because a company website appears to endorse allegedly misleading fact sheets created by the Victorian government-owned logger, VicForests.
Luke Chamberlain, the Wilderness Society's Victorian forest campaigner, said woodchips from state-owned native forests received a government subsidy worth hundreds of millions of dollars, creating an unfair price advantage over plantation-sourced chips.
''It's not an even playing field here - this is corporate socialism whereby VicForests is acting as a middleman handing over a public asset for private profit,'' he said.
''The question to Australian Paper is why do we continue to rip out a public resource, extinguish a public asset, when [there are] perfectly good alternatives?''
He said the Wilderness Society had sent letters to corporate social responsibility officers at 2500 leading companies, and on Thursday began a phone campaign to follow up with the top 400 companies.
Fund managers will be the campaign's next targets, and the organisation is considering a print media advertising campaign.
Feedback from corporates so far had been ''incredibly positive'', Mr Chamberlain said. ''Obviously we're dealing with some of the major distributors of Australian Paper,'' he said. ''They don't want to have environment groups on their back - they spruik their environmental credentials and I think their branding is potentially at risk if we target them.''
Wesfarmers, Australia's eighth biggest company, already bears the scars of an earlier battle with the Wilderness Society. After a long campaign that included embarrassing protests outside its Bunnings hardware stores, the chain switched from native forest timber to plantation wood.
Mr Chamberlain said the Wilderness Society had been talking with Australian Paper about moving away from native forests for ''probably five to six years''.
''So far Australian Paper has buried its head in the sand,'' he said. The stoush flared up online last week with Google pulling down Wilderness Society advertisements that appeared above search results for Reflex, after a complaint from Australian Paper. The company, a subsidiary of Japan's Nippon Paper Group, has hit back with a website entitled ''Ethical paper - the facts'' that mimics features of the Wilderness Society's ethical paper campaign site.
On that website, its says more than half its total fibre needs come from plantation timber and recycled paper. ''The remainder is sourced through VicForests which is a Victorian government enterprise responsible for the sustainable harvest and commercial sale of wood from state forests,'' the company said.
In a separate statement issued on Friday, Australian Paper said it ''welcomes open discussion from all stakeholders about our performance''. It said it employed about 1200 people and the industry had been hit by the closure of two Tasmanian mills last year at a cost of 300 jobs.
''Our plight is not unlike that of Kimberly-Clark whose Millicent tissue mill in South Australia faces closure and the loss of 170 jobs in May,'' the company said. ''Our statements and claims are independently checked and comply with Australian Competition and Consumer Commission guidelines.''
Mr Chamberlain said VicForests fact sheets on the company's ethical paper - the facts website were ''mythology and propaganda''.
''We'll be taking that up now with the ACCC as part of this campaign.'' He said it was practical for Australian Paper to use only recycled paper and plantation-sourced timber.
''We're looking for Australian paper to show leadership in true sustainability and create a much greater recycled paper industry.''
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