Nippon Paper around the world

Logging in Indonesia, Chile and South Africa

In Indonesia, Nippon Paper is part of a consortium of Japanese companies that invested in PT TEL, a company that cleared forests, farms and villages to make way for its pulp mill and associated acacia plantations. Thousands of people were forced off their land and pollution from the mill has killed fish in the River Lematang. After the mill opened, villagers living along the river complained that the water tasted of chemicals, and many villagers now suffer from skin diseases caused by the pollution.

Two years ago, Nippon Paper started importing woodchips from Volterra's 13,500 hectares of eucalyptus plantations in Chile. Volterra is a joint venture between Nippon Paper and Sumitomo Corporation, set up in 1991. Nippon Paper also imports woodchips from Forest Resources (Forestco) in South Africa.

Investing in biotechnology and GE trees

In 2003, Nippon set up a new laboratory specifically aimed at "bolstering biotechnology research for trees as a raw material for pulp". Nippon Paper's scientists have produced genetically engineered pollution-tolerant poplar trees , eucalypts with reduced lignin and salt-tolerant eucalypts.

In Australia, Nippon Paper has a total of more than 60,000 hectares of eucalyptus plantations, including WA Plantation Resources, a joint venture with Marubeni.

The push to genetically engineer trees as a pulp source, and as an alternative to crop-based agrofuels poses serious risks to biological diversity, as well as the rights of forest dependent communities internationally. For more information please see:

http://www.globaljusticeecology.org/stopgetrees.php 

Alternatives to Reflex Paper

Australia’s annual consumption of paper/paperboard is 4.2 million tonnes. One of the most important steps we can take is to reduce our use of paper products.

Even by the most conservative estimates, the volume of paper and paperboard going to landfill in Australia is between 1.93 – 1.98 million tonnes per annum.
The consultation paper for the National Waste Policy puts the figure as high as 5.646 million tonnes. Paper can generally be recycled up to five times before the fibre becomes unusable for the making of new paper due to the molecular breakdown of the fibre. The potential for the development of a large scale Australian owned and run recycled paper mill is a vital alternative to perpetuating the logging of our dwindling high conservation value forests.

There are also many recycled paper alternatives to reflex and other papers made from native forests/virgin fibre. For a list of recommended alternatives please visit: Paper Guide