Customers given a bum steer on loo paper
Woolworths has been shown to be a first order environmental wool-puller. It claimed its home-brand toilet paper was from forests certified as being environmentally, socially and economically responsible. But they had to admit the pulp, which comes from a notorious Indonesian pulp and paper company, had not been okayed by any certifying group.
A report by Indonesia’s Centre for International Forestry Research last year found that Asian Pulp and Paper (APP) relies on the clearing of natural forests in Indonesia’s Sumatra for 60 – 70% of its wood supply. This logging is also linked with human rights violations, as well as forest degradation and destroying the habitats of tigers and elephants in Sumatra.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said that they are finding that products that claim eco-credentials often have premium prices as well. Deceiving consumers is bad enough, but charging a high price for an environmentally destructive product is especially irksome.