Greenpeace + Kimberly-Clark Kiss & Make Up

Greenpeace has been on the defensive with Kimberly-Clark for a good long while now; showcasing their dislike of Kimberly-Clark’s tree use with their “Kleercut” campaign. However, in big news today, Kimberly-Clark has revised their standards, set new greener goals, and Greenpeace has called off the campaign.

Greenpeace, worked with Kimberly-Clark on its revised standards, which include obtaining 100 percent of the company’s wood fiber for tissue products, including the Kleenex brand, from environmentally responsible sources. The revised standards will help protect Endangered Forests and increase the use of both Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified fiber and recycled fiber.

By 2011, Kimberly-Clark has set a goal that hopefully will ensure that 40 percent of its North American tissue fiber is either recycled or FSC certified. That’s a 71% increase of recycled fibers from 2007 levels. Additionally, at the end of 2011, Kimberly-Clark plans on eliminating the purchase of any fiber from the Canadian Boreal Forest that is not FSC certified. Good news since the Boreal is North America’s largest old growth forest and provides a safe habitat for a large amount of threatened wildlife.

The new standards also support Kimberly-Clark’s long-standing ban on use of wood fiber from illegal sources but adds in a preference for post-consumer recycled fiber. Lastly, Kimberly-Clark is revamping their recycling initiatives along with the inclusion of a system that provides identification, mapping and protection of areas that have the potential to be designated as Endangered or High Conservation Value forests.

Greenpeace is tough on the folks doing eco-baddie acts for sure, in fact sometimes you have to wonder if they’re taking it a little too far, but past campaigns show that some companies when pressured do make changes for the better which helps the company appeal to the growing green market and of course the planet as well.