Eight Retailers Drop APP Toilet Paper Over Deforestation and Habitat Concerns

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February 16, 2012

At the urging of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), eight retailers so far have decided to stop selling paper products made with fiber from Asia Pulp & Paper stemming from concerns over Indonesian deforestation.

In its report titled “Don’t Flush Tiger Forests: Toilet Paper, U.S. Supermarkets, and the Destruction of Indonesia’s Last Tiger Habitats,” APP, the fifth-largest tissue producer in the world, is rapidly expanding into the U.S. market with paper linked to rain forest destruction, originating from areas that are the last home for critically endangered species such as Sumatran tigers, elephants, and orangutans.

As a result, eight grocery retailers -- BI-LO, Brookshire Grocery Company, Delhaize Group (owner of Food Lion chain), Harris Teeter, Kmart, Kroger, Supervalu and Weis Markets -- have decided to stop carrying tissue products made with APP fiber during the last several months.

“We applaud the decision by these companies to remove these products from their stores,” said Jan Vertefeuille, head of WWF’s Tiger Campaign.

WWF estimates that APP and its affiliates have pulped nearly 5 million acres of tropical forest on the island of Sumatra, which equals an area roughly the size of 4 million football fields or larger than the state of Massachusetts.

“Consumers shouldn’t have to choose between tigers and toilet paper,” said Linda Kramme, a WWF forest expert. “We’re asking retailers, wholesalers and consumers not to buy Paseo or Livi products until APP stops clearing rain forests in Sumatra.”

APP distributes its tissue, paper and paper-based packaging products through a number of North American-based subsidiaries and affiliates, including Solaris Paper, Mercury Paper, Paper Excellence, Global Paper Solutions and Eagle Ridge Paper.

In recent years, APP has greatly expanded into the U.S. tissue market. Oasis Brands, which markets Paseo, announced in 2011 that Paseo had become the fastest-growing brand of toilet paper in the U.S. Paseo and Livi are also marketed as "away-from-home" products used in public restrooms in restaurants, office buildings, schools and hotels.

To produce the report, WWF researched Paseo sales to U.S. grocery chains and found Paseo products being carried in grocery chains across the country in 2011. WWF contacted 20 grocers sourcing the largest amounts of Paseo to make them aware of the link to rainforest destruction.

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