APP refutes further allegations over Indonesian rainforest

The paper giant described the claims made in Greenpeace's report, entitled How Sinar Mas Is Pulping the Planet, as "inaccurate" and "misleading".

Greenpeace alleges that APP is destroying areas of rainforest in Sumatra, in particular, the Bukit Tigapuluh Forest Landscape – one of the last remaining rainforests areas of the endangered Sumatran tiger.

According to the charity, Indonesia has the fastest disappearing rainforest in all of the major forested nations in the world.  

It said: "Despite repeated claims that APP is on 'a responsible path towards sustainability' and will soon have no need to pulp Indonesian forests to meet its fibre requirements, Pulping the Planet reveals… that APP continues to acquire and destroy rainforest and peatland to feed its pulp mills in Sumatra".

Greenpeace added that, rather than being upfront about rainforest issues, APP has "simply continued to make dodgy claims about sustainability".

However, Aida Greenbury, managing director of sustainability, said: "The claims made against Indonesian policy and APP in this report are unequivocally inaccurate and deliberately misleading. We are disappointed that Greenpeace continues to publish misleading reports containing false claims and we would like to set the record straight.

Greenbury said that APP was committed to transparency and "opens its doors to credible and responsible NGOs and independent auditors to trace the chain-of-custody of its products".

"We regret that Greenpeace published this report without contacting us first. We would ask that instead of investing their resources to work against us, they come and examine our operations and work with us to seek new solutions that balance the complex and interconnected needs of the developing world," she added.

She said all of APP's pulpwood suppliers' areas were subject to "rigorous multiple socio-environment assessments" and that its pulpwood suppliers develop 60% of their production forest concession area, while the remaining 40% is set aside for conservation.

Last year, APP denied allegations that it planned to carry out a large-scale logging operation in the natural forest area of the Bukit Tigapuluh National Park.

In the latest Greenpeace report, several companies were named as buyers of products from APP, including Australian paper merchant Paperlinx.

A spokeswoman for Paperlinx told ProPrint's UK sister title, PrintWeek, that its company operated "one of the industry's leading product stewardship systems".  

She said: "We work in conjunction with internationally recognised certifications PEFC and FSC to ensure our procurement is robust and that no illegal fibres enter our supply chain. 

"If there is any evidence of illegal fibre appearing in certified products, we would take immediate investigative action with both the certifier and the supplier concerned."

The report also identifies international paper buyers that have "stopped buying or selling paper products connected to APP", singling out Australian retail giant Woolworths.

Source: PrintWeek