KFC is latest to drop APP, Greenpeace claims
Greenpeace has stepped up its campaign against board supplier Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) by claiming that fast food giant KFC UK and Ireland has stopped using materials from the company
In a statement released on Monday (29 October), KFC said it was introducing new policies for all paper and wood fibre used in its packaging.
KFC did not confirm to PN whether it had changed its packaging policy due to Greenpeace’s campaign. However, it has committed to take packaging only from suppliers who source paper and pulp products from well-managed sustainable sources, and says it is using a supplier database with testing of fibres and surveillance to ensure standards are met.
Products must also have independent certification, for example from the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC), said the company.
The fast food firm said: “We are committed to increase the recycled content in products and to ensure where we use virgin material it doesn’t contain mixed tropical hardwoods.”
The move comes after a Greenpeace investigation revealed KFC was using packaging that contained mixed tropical hardwood, indicating it has come from rainforests. Greenpeace traced some of the products back to pulp and paper manufacturer Asia Pulp and Paper (APP).
KFC joins a long list of major global brands including Disney, Mattel, Nestlé, Xerox, Kraft, Unilever, and Danone, which have ruled out supply from the controversial company thanks to campaigning efforts by Greenpeace and other environmental campaigners.
Indonesian rainforest
Greenpeace rainforest campaigner Ian Duff said: “Millions of KFC customers in the UK will be relieved to hear that their meals no longer contribute to the destruction of pristine Indonesian rainforest, the place endangered species like the Sumatran tiger call home.”
KFC was sending out a strong message to the business community that it is not acceptable to buy from firms which are “turning the rainforest into rubbish”, he said.
He called on KFC’s parent company, Yum! Brands, to take similar steps and introduce a zero-deforestation policy to ensure none of its operations are buying from suppliers who are contributing to rainforest destruction.
Companies including Tesco have dropped APP as a paper and packaging supplier because they say they cannot satisfy themselves over the sustainability of the source of the materials.
APP’s response
In a statement responding to Greenpeace, APP said that it had released its Sustainability Roadmap Vision 2020 in Jakarta on 5 June and the first Roadmap update was released on 5 September 2012.
APP added: “The key policy under our Sustainability Roadmap is the commitment to the identification, protection and the management of High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF), or forest crucial for the conservation of endangered species and its habitat. We also announced our commitment to support the end of deforestation by 2015.
“Following the moratorium of APP’s owned pulpwood concessions on natural forest and peatland conversion on 1 June 2012, we have identified independent suppliers who supply our mills with Mixed Tropical Hardwood (MTH) fibre from legal natural forest clearance operations. It is important to note that these operations are conducted on logged-over production forest, not pristine or virgin forests.
“APP is listening to Greenpeace’s concerns regarding the use of natural forest fibre in paper production. It is our intention to accelerate the implementation of natural forest clearance moratoria and HCVF commitments in the remaining suppliers engaged in legal natural forest clearance operations.”
Elsewhere, KFC’s new packaging statement also states that it has achieved the following:
- Iconic bucket no longer contains a plastic coating which means it can be recycled
- Krushems cups contain (40-50%) recycled materials
- It has reduced its packaging by 1,400 tonnes – equivalent to 127 double decker buses – by switching our Fillet and Zinger burgers from cardboard ‘clamshells’ to paper wrappers and moved its classic chicken meals, the Colonel’s Meal and Variety Meal, from cardboard boxes to paper bags.
- Foil wrappers for Mini Fillet Burgers have changed to paper wrappers. The new packaging is 100% recyclable and biodegradable.
