Woollies get thumbs up over rainforest tissues

The Woolworths supermarket chain is being praised by the Green Party for severing links to a pulp and paper company linked to alleged illegal logging and unsustainable practices.

The supermarket last year stopped selling the Asia Pulp and Paper company’s tissue products, sold under the Select brand and labelled as sustainable, after Green Co-Leader Russel Norman revealed they were made from rainforest timber from Sumatra.

“This is a small victory for sustainability and Woolworths should be praised for cutting its contract with this company. But it should also take this as a valuable lesson, to verify that suppliers are not contributing to environmental destruction.

“Ending the illegal logging of precious rainforests can only happen if there is no longer a demand for products made from their timbers.

“I am also pleased to see today’s joint forest industry, wood product sector and conservation group statement opposing the import and use of illegally harvested and traded forest products,” Dr Norman says.

“The message from these 10 groups is a clear signal to the Government that it must clean up its act when it comes to the continued importation of products sourced from illegally logged rainforest timber.”