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Australia's Woolworths greenwashes rainforest destruction in Indonesia, allege activists Jeremy Hance, mongabay.com July 8, 2008 Despite a year of protesting, Woolworths continues to carry paper sourced from 'the worst fibre manufacturer in the world'.
The focus of the campaign is Woolworths relationship with Asia Pulp and Paper (APP). APP has a notoriously bad environmental record. It has been caught performing illegal logging in China and Indonesia, and although the company promised to clean-up its act, last year the Financial Times reported that in 2004-2005, 70 percent of APP's logging was in natural forests. "They have been among Asia's most serious tropical forest converters," said Tim Woods from the Wake Up Woolworths campaign, "stripping millions of hectares of diverse forests and replacing them with pulpwood plantations that the significant mammals of the region — tigers, elephants, orangutans and the like — cannot survive in. Much of that logging was unsustainable and the logs were laundered into Malaysia with locals instead of the company being blamed."
Many companies and NGOs have been cutting ties with APP due to its failure to improve its environmental standards. WWF has been supporting boycotts of APP products for nearly five years. In February of last year The Rainforest Alliance ended a partnership with APP, while in November the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) also dropped APP. Most recently, American office giant Staples stopped carrying APP products. Woolworths however, despite protests and negative media attention, continues to carry APP products. "They said they would look into allegations," Woods said. "After that they stated they are committed to a review of their supply arrangements. But one year on, the APP made product is still on the shelves and Woolworths has continued its refusal to meet and even discuss the matter." Woolworths purchases APP for its company label, called 'Select Brand'. According to Wake Up Woolworths campaign, before 2007 'Select Brand' carried stickers stating that the product was produced from 'sustainable forest fibre' which was 'sourced from a certified environmentally managed company that is environmentally, socially and economically responsible'. When confronted with the issue, Woolworths kept the products on the shelf but covered over the sticker stating its 'sustainability'. Tim Woods, when asked if he believed that Woolworths was deliberately misleading the public, he replied that "yes, unfortunately I do." He continued: "Woolworths didn't just accept a label from APP, they made their own. They made up their own bogus sustainability logo as well and they stuck it onto the products as a point of difference with other products. They engaged in serious greenwashing because they say they checked the products and certifications before they labeled them. The fact is that Australia's competition regulator stated after their independent investigation that Woolworths was unable to prove the source of their products or the veracity of any of their claims."
Woods believes the issue is purely a matter of profit: "The reason they use APP product for their private 'Select Brand' label is because its cheap and they make higher margins. To them that's what seems to be sustainable. If they put anything into their sustainability plan about APP they would be obliged to do something, so failing to identify the problem avoids the necessity to act in their minds." Woolworths was contacted to comment on this article, but did not reply.
Tags: jeremy hance environmental marketing green marketing Australia environmental activism activism deforestation indonesia logging greenwashing sustainability rainforests forests environment green News index | RSS | News Feed | Twitter | Home Advertisements: Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing
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