SUMMER 2007
Co-op America Quarterly
7
to give their customers, while drug-
stores and retailers with at least five
stores inside city limits will have a
year to comply with the law.
Each year San Francisco's 54 largest
supermarkets hand out an estimated
125 million plastic bags, account-
ing for 1,400 tons of landfill waste
annually, Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi,
who introduced the bill, told the Los
Angeles Times.
South Africa, Taiwan, Bangladesh,
and Paris have enacted similar bans,
notes the Times, while Ireland imposed
a plastic-bag tax. On April 2, the small
town of Leaf, Manitoba, became the
first Canadian town to ban petroleum-
based plastic bags, according to the
Canadian Broadcasting Company.
Mirkarimi says he has heard from
other cities nationwide that are inter-
ested in following San Francisco's lead.
CONTACT: To find reusable shopping bags
even if you don't live in San Francisco, consult the
"Bags/Baskets" category of our National Green
PagesTM, www.greenpages.org.
Greenpeace launches kimberly-Clark Boycott to save Forests
Greenpeace is urging consumers to avoid purchasing Kleenex tissues and other paper
products produced by Kimberly-Clark, the largest tissue company in the world, because
the company is destroying threatened and endangered forests, says the organization.
Kimberly-Clark uses trees from old-growth and endangered forests, including North
American boreal forest, to make its facial tissue, toilet paper, and napkins under the
brand names Kleenex, Scott, Viva, and Cottonelle, according to Greenpeace.
"These forests are crucial for fighting global warming--they capture CO
2
released
from automobiles and industrial practices, keeping the earth cooler," says Jennifer
Gerholdt, outreach coordinator for Co-op America's WoodWise program. "They also
provide essential habitat for countless wildlife, including many that are threatened or
endangered such as grizzly bears, wolves, and eagles."
Through its Kleercut campaign, Greenpeace is asking Kimberly-Clark to stop pur-
chasing virgin fiber from endangered forests, to increase the use of recycled fiber in its
products, and to ensure that the non-recycled fiber it does purchase is certified by the
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) as having come from sustainably managed forests.
Greenpeace says Kimberly-Clark recently responded to its concerns by releasing a
fiber policy that failed to make any commitment to increasing recycled content in its
products, or to protecting forests. "We continue to push for a policy that will drastically
increase the amount of recycled fiber in all products and use FSC-certified fiber for any
remaining virgin fiber needs," says lindsey Allen of Greenpeace.
Stockholders are also putting pressure on Kimberly-Clark: A recent shareholder
resolution requesting a feasibility study on transitioning to recycled and FSC-certified
fiber, put forth by Domini Social Investments
m
, garnered a 7.2 percent vote (represent-
ing stockholders with about $2 billion worth of shares) this spring.
"Instead of Kleenex, consumers should seek forest-friendly tissue products from com-
panies like Seventh Generation
m
, Cascades, Natural Value, and Marcal," urges Gerholdt.
BoyCoTT ACTIoN NEWs
Continued from page 4
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