WWF grades paper product makers

updated 4:39 p.m. ET Oct. 11, 2006

GENEVA - Major tissue and toilet paper manufacturers received failing environmental grades from the conservation group WWF on Wednesday for not doing enough to prove their timber comes from sustainable sources.

While the paper giants are increasingly aware of the need to address unsustainable forest exploitation, illegal logging and land rights conflicts, the WWF said they had not demonstrated how they are avoiding such abuse.

The Swiss-headquartered group, known variously as the World Wide Fund for Nature and the World Wildlife Fund, gave Kimberly-Clark a 40 percent grade, while Procter & Gamble scored 34 percent and Georgia-Pacific got 27 percent.

Sweden’s SCA, Europe’s biggest maker of corrugated packaging and hygiene products, including the toilet roll brand Danke, scored highest in the annual WWF environmental ratings with a 69 percent score.

“SCA ... is the only surveyed company that is able to ensure that wood fibers used in its products don’t come from poorly managed forests,” WWF said, also noting the Swedish company’s high environmental and social standards in forest management.

Finnish tissue paper products maker Metsa Tissue, which scored 53 percent, was applauded in the report for increasing recycled fiber levels in its consumer products.

Decrying what it called a wasteful trend toward luxury toilet paper, WWF urged consumers to seek out products with higher recycled content. Extra-white paper products should also be avoided because of their extensive bleaching, it added.

“Trees from natural forests and plantations from around the world are unnecessarily wasted and land straight in our toilets and bins,” it said.

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