Bygones

Kimberly-Clark, Greenpeace hug it out 8

KleercutGreenpeace USA

Engaging in a bit of a lovefest, Greenpeace and Kimberly-Clark announced today that the paper-products giant has finally agreed to clean up its act. It will source the fiber for its tissue products, under brand names that include Kleenex, Scott, and Cottonelle, from “environmentally responsible sources,” including those that are FSC-certified and recycled. The company has also committed to end the purchase of non-FSC fibers from Canada’s Boreal forest by 2011. For its part, Greenpeace will drop the five-year-old Kleercut campaign that has long urged Kimberly-Clark to quit destroying the Boreal just so cold-sufferers can experience a softer blow.

In a fit of hard-earned mutual admiration, Kimberly-Clark VP Suhas Apte said, “We commend Greenpeace for helping us develop more sustainable standards,” while Greenpeace USA Forest Campaign Director Scott Paul called Kimberly-Clark a “responsible company” and said its “efforts are a challenge to its competitors. I hope other companies pay close attention.”

Those other companies include Georgia Pacific and Procter & Gamble, both of which Greenpeace is still pressuring on the sustainable sourcing front.

I contacted Michael Conroy, who wrote a book on corporate greening and grassroots campaigns called Branded (and whom I interviewed last year for Grist), to see what he made of the news. “This is a huge victory for global forests, the FSC, and Greenpeace,” he replied. “Kimberly-Clark is the world’s largest manufacturer of tissue paper products. The nature of the commitments, the specific timetables provided, and the Kimberly-Clark agreement to report back regularly on what proportion of the fiber sourced for its tissue has come from recycled and FSC-certified sources makes this a very credible commitment.”

Conroy also pointed out that the conclusion of Kleercut, which “used print media, social networking, YouTube videos, and incredibly creative ways to wear down Kimberly-Clark resistance, shows that the new tools for communicating with consumers are bringing even more power to civil society as we seek to transform the social and environmental practices of the world’s largest corporations.”

Ginger Cassady, senior campaigner for ForestEthics, was also pleased as punch by the news. As Cassady wrote in an op-ed for Grist this spring on Kimberly-Clark’s “Scott Naturals” line, “Kimberly-Clark has no trouble with innovation—if they can make an anti-viral tissue product, for god’s sake, they can make Kleenex with 100 percent post-consumer recycled content.” Angry that the company was still “wiping away ancient forests to make Kleenex,” Cassady used that piece to advise consumers to avoid the distraction of a single product line and keep their eyes on the entire company.

The company’s new policy, she told me today, “is among the strongest in the world ... truly impressive.” Along with Greenpeace, she says she hopes the move by Kimberly-Clark will influence other companies. “ForestEthics congratulates Greenpeace and allies for a campaign well run,” she said.

In short, it’s an ugly situation with a hugfest ending—as evidenced by this goofy Greenpeace video:

Katharine Wroth is a senior editor at Grist.

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  1. shelly123 Posted 12:47 pm
    05 Aug 2009

    What a great victory for the trees! I just sent a thank you note to Kimberly-Clark. You can do so too at: http://bit.ly/CPsZN It's nice to see these two working it out and saving the forests, together. That video cracked me up :)

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  2. Keith Farnish Posted 7:40 am
    06 Aug 2009

    Greenpeace have either been hoodwinked or they are so eager to deliver some good news they'll present anything as a victory.

    Read the full, gory details at http://thesietch.org/mysietch/keith/2009/08/06/greenpeace-usa-grants-kimberly-clark-two-years-unlimited-destruction/

    Keith

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    1. Ladybug Posted 9:50 am
      06 Aug 2009

      I clicked over to Keith's web site. Tag line: "Exposing Ethical Hypocrites Everywhere!"

      Thank god someone is doing this difficult work. Now if only someone would set up an "Exposing Screechy Scolds Everywhere!" blog, and the cycle of life would be complete.

      Meanwhile, this announcement seems to be good news for forests.

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      1. Keith Farnish Posted 10:41 am
        06 Aug 2009

        I wish I had your faith, Ladybug, then I would happily be able to
        ignore the appalling stuff that is going on in the name of "progress"
        and civilization. I encourage you to read A Matter Of Scale (www.amatterofscale.com);
        you will probably enjoy it, and maybe even come out of thinking
        differently.
        And why shouldn't I criticise this move: did you
        read the article? Do you disagree with the facts (I only deal with
        facts), some of which were written by Greenpeace themselves?
        Kimberly-Clark have Greenpeace exactly where they want them -- on their
        side, and helping them continue destroying the forests.

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      2. Ladybug Posted 8:24 am
        07 Aug 2009

        I love the implication that those of us who aren't screechy scolds are simply ignoring all sorts of appalling stuff happening all over the place. Is there any small chance that perhaps it's your worldview that's incomplete?Criticize this move all you want, but also recognize that you're a guy who maintains a web site chronicling other people's hypocrisy -- the most overrated vice in the world -- and Greenpeace has gone out and saved a bunch of forests.

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      3. Keith Farnish Posted 9:36 am
        07 Aug 2009

        Oh, it was you who posted on The Unsuitablog - I know your name now. The point is, K-C were already very likely to have made this move: commercially they lose very little by going for certification, but gain a huge PR boost from the most influential environmental NGO in the world.
        From the K-C policy document it looks as though they were planning this a couple of years ago.

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  3. wolfelena Posted 8:31 am
    06 Aug 2009

    Well, I guess for now we just wait until 2011, and then the Kleenex boycott can end. It'll be here before we know it. Progess, not perfection, is probably the best we can hope for. I hope the forests can withstand it until then. 

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  4. Robin Webster Posted 9:22 am
    12 Aug 2009

    This is all just green smoke and mirrors. As the cynical self-marketeers at Greenpeace Canada and US know full-well, certification under the Forest Stewardship Council scheme counts for nothing. Zip. Just check out www.fsc-watch.org to see what I mean - a website that I believe has been running for a number of years already.  But hey, it's a 'win-win' situation: Kimberley-Clark get to carry on doing just what they've done before: Greenpeace get to pretend that they've achieved a fantastic victory.Greenpeace might consider that Kleenex is a 'case closed' - but a new case now opens: why Greenpeace continues to betray the world's forests by pretending that FSC certifcation is anything but a corrupt sham. 

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