Greenpeace rebuffs Cottonsoft attack

Auckland, 21st November 2011: Greenpeace confirmed that it stands 100 per cent behind the investigation which proved that samples of toilet paper manufactured by Cottonsoft contain Indonesian rainforest fibre.
Greenpeace New Zealand Executive Director Bunny McDiarmid said: “We are 100 per cent behind our statements about Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), and its New Zealand subsidiary Cottonsoft, fuelling rainforest destruction. This is based on both robust forensic testing, and years of experience on the ground in Indonesia, documenting deforestation and tracking the companies involved.”

She continued: “This attack comes as no surprise – Cottonsoft’s parent company Asia Pulp and Paper has been wheeling its huge PR machine around the globe in the past few weeks, attacking Greenpeace, as more and more companies decide they don’t want to buy into APP’s brand of rainforest destruction.” 

“Rather than spending their cash on PR consultants, APP and Cottonsoft should put their energy into cleaning up their act. Every other toilet paper manufacturer in New Zealand manages to operate successfully without trashing rainforests – why can’t they?

“It is Cottonsoft that is endangering the jobs of its workers, by using rainforest fibres to manufacture its toilet paper. There are plenty of sustainable sources of pulp that could be used instead,” McDiarmid says.

IPS Global, which carried out the tests for Greenpeace, is a heavyweight independent testing lab used by major companies in the international paper industry like Kimberly-Clark, SCA, International Paper and Procter & Gamble. The lab’s clients also include the U.S. Department of Defense, Customs, and the FBI.