Alumni Action Alert: Tell Costco to help save the Boreal
Many alumni asked us over the years for more opportunities to get engaged in important issues. Now we send an Alumni Action Alert each month on a particular issue or campaign The Public Interest Network is working on, along with some actions that you can take to help protect the environment, public health or the public interest.
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This month, we're calling on Costco to take two steps to help save Canada's boreal forest: First, make its Kirkland Signature tissue products from at least 50 percent recycled or forest-free materials; then, refuse to sell other brands of tissue products until they implement the same change. Will you join the call?
THE ISSUE: Urge Costco to stop selling toilet paper made from ancient trees
PUBLIC INTEREST NETWORK GROUP WORKING ON THIS: Environment America
CONTEXT: We’re losing the ancient forest of the Canadian boreal, one of the world’s most important forests, at a rate of one and a half football fields per minute. Unfortunately for wildlife and our climate, many manufacturers make their tissue paper using 100 percent virgin forest fiber -- much of it logged and pulped trees from the boreal. These companies use all-virgin fiber because it makes a softer tissue they believe customers prefer.
Here’s why we think we can win, and why Costco’s commitment would be so important:
We have alternatives. Materials exist for creating tissue products that are far less damaging than wood, like wheat straw, bamboo and recycled paper. Well-regarded companies are already using them to make products many Americans use.
We have momentum. Environment America and allies have been publicly urging Procter & Gamble (P&G), which owns the Charmin, Bounty and Puffs brands, to stop making products using virgin fiber. Last October, by a surprisingly large margin, shareholders voted for a proposal calling on the company to eliminate deforestation in its supply chain.
As for Costco, toilet paper is its best-selling item. The retailer sells a billion rolls a year. If each and every one of those rolls were made in a way that tread lightly on the Boreal and the Earth, it would have a huge impact on the industry.
ACTION YOU CAN TAKE: Costco, a major seller of toilet paper, has a chance to make a major difference in preventing widespread deforestation in the boreal forest. Tell Costco CEO Craig Jelinek: Help save North America's biggest and most vital forest by committing his company to only sell products made sustainably. Take action here.
