Clear Cut and Kimberly- Clark

What's the problem?

Kleenex, one of the most popular brands of tissue products in the world, contributes to the destruction of ancient forests. Its manufacturer, the Kimberly-Clark corporation, has been unwilling to improve its practices, continuing to rely on paper and pulp made from clearcut ancient forest including North America's Boreal forest. Kimberly-Clark clears these ancient forests, essential in fighting climate change and providing home to wildlife like caribou, wolves, eagles and bears,into products that are flushed down the toilet or thrown away.

Disposable Products - Disposable Forests

In North America, less than 20 per cent of the pulp Kimberly-Clark uses for its disposable tissue products (toilet paper, facial tissue, napkins and paper towels) comes from recycled sources. The rest is made from forests, many of which have existed for thousands of years.

Kimberly-Clark claims to be an environmental leader even though for decades they have cleared forests to manufacture products that are used only once and then thrown away.
Many of the products Kimberly-Clark sells under the brand name Kleenex have a very low recycled content, if any at all. In fact, Kimberly-Clark seems proud its facial tissue is made solely of virgin (tree) fibre – most of which comes from ancient forests.

Much of the virgin tree fibre
Kimberly-Clark uses for its tissue products come from unsustainably managed forests. These forests are predominantly logged in clearcuts — a devastating form of logging where most if not all trees are removed from an area of forest.
What’s left behind is a barren landscape that can no longer support wildlife species, such as wolverines, bears, caribou, wolves and the billions of birds that depend on ancient forests for their survival. Click here to view some more photos of Kimberly-Clark's destructive business practices

KLEENEX Facial Tissue is made from 100 per cent virgin fibre and contains no recycled fibre. Virgin fibre is used in our tissue because it provides the superior softness consumers expect from a premium facial tissue product.

— Kimberly-Clark Kleenex.com website

Alternatives Exist

Kimberly-Clark continues to clearcut forests. This despite calls from Greenpeace and others to stop destroying forests for disposable tissue products and despite the widespread availability of recycled fibre — fibre that is often less expensive than fibre made from trees. What’s more, ancient forest friendly and recycled tissue products are already sold in grocery and health food stores across North America.


Environmental Record According to Kilberly Clark:
According to Kimberly-Clark's latest sustainability report, released in 2008, Kimberly-Clark recognizes the following certification systems:

• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). We give preference to wood fiber from FSC-certified suppliers where it is available and meets product performance requirements and competitive market conditions.
• Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI).
• Canadian Standards Association’s National Sustainable Forest Management Standards (CSA).
• Sistema Brasileiro de Certificação Florestal (CERFLOR) in Brazil.
• Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes (PEFC).

In 2008, 98 percent of the wood pulp Kimberly-Clark bought globally came from suppliers or forestlands certified to one of the five schemes listed above, up from 88 percent in 2005.^[4] Seven pulp suppliers, accounting for the remaining two percent of virgin fiber purchases, were not certified.
In 2008, Kimberly-Clark's mills in New Milford, Connecticut, and Romagnano Sesia, Italy, improved their energy efficiency and reduced greenhouse gas emissions by installing combined heat and power (CHP) systems. CHP uses natural gas to provide process steam, heating and electricity needs, and produces fewer emissions than other fossil fuels such as coal or fuel oil. The combined-cycle system then captures heat that is usually wasted in electricity generation and uses this to provide thermal energy for processes and to heat buildings. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, CHP is up to 50 percent more energy efficient than large, centralized fossil-fuel power plants. In April 2008, Kimberly-Clark's Beech Island facility in South Carolina began burning methane gas from a regional landfill in one of its boilers. Substituting landfill gas for natural gas from fossil sources provides a carbon-neutral fuel source and a stable, local source of alternative energy. Kimberly-Clark's sustainability website provides more information about their policies and practices.

What they don't say