One by one, the fashion industry’s biggest companies are leaving Asian Pulp and Paper (APP)—and deforestation in Indonesia—behind. The newest defector is PAK 2000, a packaging company for fashion products. After a sustained campaign by the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and fashion companies buying from PAK 2000, the New Hampshire-based company, has announced that it is severing all ties with APP by the end of the year. The announcement means that big famous companies—from Versace to J. Crew—will have an easier time avoiding paper products that cause rainforest destruction.
“Indonesia is ground zero for deforestation and climate change,” Lafcadio Cortesi of RAN said in a press release by the group. “Through its actions PAK 2000 is demonstrating that paper from rainforest destruction is not a bargain for the fashion industry or for our children’s future.”
RAN’s campaign, which began two months ago, has resulted in big-name companies like Tiffany & Co., H&M Group, Gucci, and Ferragamo to end sourcing from APP. Instead these companies are looking at options of using recycled paper and paper certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), a certification process that has garnered its own criticism from some environmental groups in the past.
PAK 2000 has pledged to phase out controversial and high conservation value forest fiber from its paper products within 180 days. The company is also working with RAN to implement a new paper policy next year.
“We’re all thinking about our global footprints these days,” Kate Dillon, a leading fashion model and activist, told RAN. “PAK 2000’s actions will make it easier for fashion companies to source environmentally responsible paper and provide one tangible step down the path of environmental leadership.”
APP has become notorious among environmentalists and conservationists for large-scale deforestation in Indonesia, a nation with the third highest emissions in the world mostly due to the destruction of its rainforests and peatlands. Industry-driven destruction of rainforest—for paper, wood, and agricultural crops such as palm oil and soy—has also led to widespread biodiversity loss. APP has been accused of destroying orangutan and tiger habitat, while also destroying land belonging to indigenous tribes.
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