Adding to a series of environmentally focused announcements in 2012, Asia Pulp & Paper Group has now made a pledge to source 100 percent of its fibre from tree plantations by 2015.
The pledge is to be part of APP’s Sustainability Roadmap for 2020 and Beyond initiative. According to APP, if it fulfills this 2015 plantation pledge, it will be 10 years ahead of the publicly stated goals of other global paper industry players.
“The old way of gauging a paper product’s sustainability was to look at percent of recycled content, but this should not be the only barometer. Fibre age is equally if not more important,” stated Ian Lifshitz, North American Director of Sustainability and Public Affairs for APP. “Our business aim is to be wholly reliant on tree farms in Southeast Asia, and trees from these plantations can be harvested, re-planted, re-grown and harvested again in just six years. That is obviously in stark contrast to the process of harvesting old-growth trees in North America – a process that takes 70 to 80 years.”
APP also recently announced that its production mills are the first in Indonesia to achieve SVLK certification, which is the country’s new wood legality standard.
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