Beyond Green

Greenpeace gave a big bear hug to Kimberly-Clark, the paper giant that agreed to a sustainable fiber procurement policy.

“Kimberly-Clark now has a goal of obtaining 100 percent of the wood fiber for its products — including its flagship brand, Kleenex — from environmentally responsible sources” (recycled or Forest Stewardship Council-certified), Greenpeace writes on its blog.

But the interesting thing is how this agreement arose out of a cause-related campaign by Greenpeace against the paper company.

The organization first documented the destructive activity of loggers, then traced the “chain of custody” with the forest products. In this case, boreal forest was being cut and ended up at Kimberly-Clark’s doorstep.

Along the way, economic value is “added” through various processing points, which obviously differ if the tree is destined for a 2×4 or toilet paper. Yes, Virginia — toilet paper and tissues are still commonly made of 100% virgin fiber, from ancient forests and old-growth trees.

Armed with evidence, Greenpeace met with Kimberly-Clark.

These first face-to-face meetings are a key moment and fraught with peril, as most corporations speak Greek, while most environmentalists speak Latin. Thus, on some occasions, we may not know how close or far apart we are on any given issue. Too may Greeks instinctively mistrust Latins (and I guess vice versa).

The meeting was a failure. A massive grass-roots campaign was launched, with the result that the company and Greenpeace reached an agreement. The company’s press release on the issue is here. (HT to Marc Gunther’s blog).

•  August 5th, 2009
• By Samuel Fromartz
• Comments(1)