Levi’s Updates Forest Products Policy, Becomes Latest Brand to Avoid Asia Pulp and Paper

Levi Strauss & Company has revamped its forest products purchasing policy to ensure it does not source materials from the world’s endangered forests.

In the process, Levi’s becomes the latest major brand that will not buy forest products from Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) due to concerns over APP’s involvement in rainforest destruction in Indonesia.

Levi’s new policy covers all wood and paper products purchased by the company and mandates that all paper purchased by the company be at least 30% post-consumer recycled content, with a goal of 100% whenever possible and when not possible that it be certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

The procurement policy applies to all of Levi Strauss & Co.’s locations worldwide. It applies to all forest products Levi’s may procure, including paper, product packaging and hangtags, corrugated, construction and decoration materials, and furniture.

“Levi’s forest products purchasing policy sends a clear message to Asia Pulp and Paper that if they want to do business with respected global companies, they must stop destroying rainforests,” said Lafcadio Cortesi, at Rainforest Action Network (RAN). “It is time for APP to stop pulping Indonesia’s last rainforests for cheap paper products. Instead APP should support the country’s commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation.”

RAN and other Indonesian and international organizations have been campaigning to alert corporate customers to the negative social and environmental problems and reputational risk associated with doing business with APP. Over the past several years, a growing list of major brands have dropped their contracts with APP, including US book publishers Scholastic, Hachette, and Simon & Schuster, leading toy companies Mattel, Hasbro and Lego, fashion giants Gucci and Tiffany and Co., major grocer Kroger, and office supply stores Staples and Office Depot.

RAN is currently in negotiations with The Walt Disney Company to create a policy to exclude fiber connected to deforestation from its global supply chains.

Indonesia’s rainforests are among the most biologically and culturally diverse landscapes in the world, and the country’s deforestation rates are among the highest on earth. Logging of natural forests for conversion to pulp plantations is a leading threat driving iconic wildlife species like the Sumatran tiger towards extinction. Forest clearing has catapulted Indonesia into the world’s third highest carbon polluting nation. It is estimated that more climate change-causing carbon is released annually from the logging of Indonesia’s forests than all of the cars, trucks, planes and ships in the US combined.

APP is currently expanding its business into North American markets, including the recent purchase of five pulp mills in Canada. According to RAN, APP usually does business under the name of subsidiary companies in the US, and many customers may be unaware they are buying from APP. These subsidiaries include Eagle Ridge Paper, Global Paper Solutions Inc., Solaris Paper and Mercury Paper.

Levi’s new policy is just the latest step taken by the brand to improve its environmental and social impact. In January 2011, the company introduced its Water<Less process for manufacturing denim products that uses up to 96% less water. And in May 2011, the company announced new policies requiring global suppliers to align operations with UN Millennium Development goals.

Bart King is a PR consultant and principal at Cleantech Communications.