Kroger, America’s largest grocery store chain, will stop carrying products sourced by Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) due to concerns about deforestation, according to a statement on the company’s web site. The move comes after a Greenpeace campaign targeting Paseo, a fast-growing toilet paper brand owned by APP.
“After an independent review, The Kroger Co. and its family of stores have decided to discontinue the sourcing of products from Asia Pulp & Paper,” said a statement posted on the retailer’s web site. “Kroger has informed APP of our concerns about the impact of their business operations on deforestation.”
Kroger did not specify when it would stop carrying APP products.
Kroger is believed to be the largest seller of Paseo brand products. Greenpeace estimates that the company sold more than $15 million worth of APP tissue products in 2010 alone.
Kroger, which owns Cala Foods, Fred Meyer, Food 4 Less, Kroger Food and Drug, Quik Stop, Ralphs, Smith’s Food and Drug, and Tom Thumb Food Stores, among others, operates more than 3,600 stores in the United States.
APP has been targeted by environmental groups for its ongoing destruction of rainforests and peatlands in Indonesia. The paper and fiber supplier has missed three deadlines — 2004, 2007, and 2009 — for phasing out logging of natural forests.
Last week a coalition of Indonesian groups accused APP of destroying part of a sanctuary established for endangered Sumatran tigers. APP denied the charge, stating that the boundaries of sanctuary have changed.
Sumatran tiger in captivity
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