Greenpeace accuses Cottonsoft of attempting to greenwash away toilet roll scandal
Auckland Tuesday August 23rd, 2011: Greenpeace today accused Cottonsoft of completely failing to address forensic
evidence that their toilet rolls contain Indonesian rainforest fibre.
Greenpeace Campaigner Nathan Argent said, “Cottonsoft can’t greenwash away the bald fact that forensic tests found parts
of an Indonesian rainforest in their own brand toilet roll.”
According to the international PEFC standard to which Cottonsoft claim to be certified, only plantation timber can be
used in products, yet independent tests commissioned by Greenpeace clearly show the presence of rainforest timber (1).
Argent continued, “Either Cottonsoft are deliberately misleading New Zealanders by claiming all their products are
certified as sustainable or Cottonsoft has accidentally admitted that PEFC-certified products contain rainforest timber,
which places them at the heart of an international scandal."
Greenpeace sent a letter this morning to the Chief Executive of Cottonsoft challenging a media statement that the
company issued late last night claiming that they were being ‘unfairly targeted’ by Greenpeace, WWF and the Green Party
in a report released by the groups on Monday (2).
The letter was copied to all of New Zealand’s major food retailers.
The Warehouse has already suspended orders of Cottonsoft toilet rolls pending an investigation (3).
Argent continued, “We urge Foodstuffs and Progressive Enterprises to follow The Warehouse’s example and suspend stocking
Cottonsoft products until the company can 100% prove they have stopped destroying rainforests to make toilet roll.”
Cottonsoft are a subsidiary of the notorious conglomerate Asia Pulp and Paper (APP). APP have already been dropped as a
supplier by major companies around the world, including Kraft, Nestle, Unilever, Tesco and Carrefour because of their
reliance on rainforest destruction to make pulp and paper products (4).
Indonesia has one of the fastest rates of forest destruction in the world. The Indonesian Government estimates that more
than one million hectares of rainforest are being cleared every year. Rainforest destruction is also acknowledged as a
major driver of climate change.
The destruction of Indonesia’s rainforests is also one of the main threats to the survival of the critically endangered
Sumatran tiger, only 400 of which are estimated to remain in the wild. It is also an increasing source of conflict
between tigers and humans.
On Monday Greenpeace New Zealand released shocking footage of a Sumatran tiger that was caught in a trap and later died
in an APP logging concession in Riau, Indonesia. View footage here: http://youtu.be/WeDoEKFw6GA
1) For a full briefing on how the investigation into the New Zealand toilet roll industry and testing of paper was
conducted go to http://greenpe.ac/toilet-paper-briefing
The laboratory report into the toilet roll testing is available at http://greenpe.ac/cottonsoft-test-results.
2 The letter to Cottonsoft from Greenpeace is available here: http://greenpe.ac/cottonsoft-letter
3) Text of email from Warehouse:
ENDS