August 27th, 2009

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Just in time for the new school year, an environmental watchdog group has issued a report card on paper retailers with forest-friendly policies.

ForestEthics, a Canadian-US non-profit founded in 2000, and the Dogwood Alliance, a defender of Southern US forests based in Asheville, N.C., collaborated on the third annual Green Grades report, which placed FedEx Office and Office Depot at the top of their class.

FedEx Office received an A- and Office Depot a B. Staples got a B- and Office Max a C in the group’s evaluation of the office retail sector.

Forest Ethics assessed these companies’ paper-buying practices to see if they favored Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified paper from sustainably managed forests; avoided disreputable suppliers whose logging operations damaged protected or vulnerable regions. The report card also considered the companies’ pursuit of recycled materials and their leadership on sustainability.

ForestEthics found that FedEx Office, for instance, avoids paper sourced from delicate caribou habitat, Indonesian forests and has “just made a major shift away from tree plantations in the US South”. The company also was the first to express a “solid preference” for FSC-certified paper and has said that most of the paper used in its copy centers will be from US FSC sources.

Office Depot, according to the report, does the “best job of tracking its forest sources, has the most detailed paper policy…” The company avoids using paper from endangered forests in Indonesia, but some of its paper still comes from caribou habitat in Canada and tree plantations in the US South (which are near monocultures and fail to support wildlife).

Staples received a similar mostly positive report and was cited for its positive “ambitious goals” but dinged for still selling some brands of paper linked to endangered portions of the Boreal Forest and using less-sustainable paper sources at its newly acquired “Corporate Express” units.

Office Max is “improving” and using more FSC paper, but it still has “big gaps” in its sourcing and relies on “weak” certifications like the Sustainable Forestry Initiative. They are still selling too much paper sourced in the Boreal Forest and from tree plantations in the US South.

The Boreal Forest in Canada is a large,  still mostly pristine ecosystem that supports many endangered species, but as important in today’s world, serves as a huge carbon sink, helping to lessen the carbon load of Earth’s atmosphere. The tropical Indonesian forests serve the same role, and also protect many species on the brink of extinction.

This year’s report also looked at “Big Box” sellers, finding that none deserved good marks for positive paper practices. Target, however, is “taking some encouraging steps forward” by phasing out questionable suppliers and paper made from Indonesian forests. WalMart/Sam’s Club has good policies on using sustainable wood for furniture and eco-sensitive packaging policies but “its paper practices” haven’t kept pace, the report noted. The world’s largest retailer still buys from suppliers who log in endangered forests and convert natural forests to less ecologically valuable tree plantations.

The report gave failing grades (an F) to Costco, which sells recycled paper but buys from “far too many” controversial sources; and to Amazon.com, which does not have “a meaningful paper policy.” Both Costco and Amazon did not return surveys from ForestEthics survey so less is known about their sourcing policies, according to the report card.

The report called out two paper manufacturers for destructive practices, including the world’s larger paper and pulp company, International Paper (IP), which it claims has been logging in endangered areas in the Southern US.

IP says in its 2006 Sustainability Report, the latest one on its website, that it does not operate in endangered forests. It notes that it shares the conservation “views” with groups such as the Nature Conservancy, Environmental Defense and the World Wildlife Fund and has sold hundreds of thousands of acres of ecologically sensitive lands to conservation groups.

It also condemned Asia Pulp & Paper for destroying endangered wildlife habitat Indonesia.

Asia Pulp & Paper notes on its sustainability web pages that it supports “high conservation value” areas and says its operations do not threaten wildlife. Its mills and management methods are ISO compliant, meaning they meet world standards for humane and resource-mindful practices, and the company is involved in efforts to save the Sumatran Tigers and the orangutans (which conservation groups say are rapidly losing their habitat and lives due to poaching and deforestation by food industries).

Still, ForestEthics reported that many wholesalers and buyers in the supply chain are moving away from these two large supply companies, and watching out for other controversial sources.

The forest guardian group also took a swipe at greenwashing in the industry, slamming companies that “exaggerate or distort claims of being green” while behind the scenes they are helping destroy forests. The group said that paper wholesalers Xpedx , which is owned by International Paper, and PaperlinX, a stationery and graphic paper supplier, were misleading customers with false green claims.

Australian-based PaperlinX says on its website that it follows a sustainability plan involving certification by the FTSE4Good Index Series and sells paper that is dually certified by FSC and another certification body. It reduced its paper-manufacturing carbon footprint by 11 percent in 2007, according to its 2008 sustainability report.

ForestEthics cited two other wholesalers, Unisource and United Stationers, as pursuing a greener path and making “rapid progress” toward using more sustainable paper.

(Photo credit: JD Taylor, ForestEthics, photo of caribou)

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