What’s wrong with Reflex paper?

Reflex parent company, Nippon Paper profits from the wholesale destruction of public native forests in Victoria and New South Wales, with old growth forests, water catchments and threatened species habitat logged and woodchipped, and made into Reflex paper. Nippon Paper also buys logs from Tasmania’s ancient forests.

In Victoria, the Forests (Wood Pulp Agreement) Act 1996 granted the company its massive supply of logs sourced from native forests from the Central Highlands, Gippsland and South Gippsland/Strzelecki regions for manufacturing wood pulp. For the 2009-10 period, this supply is set as 400 000 cubic metres of wood to be taken from these forests. The company’s purchasing of logs from native forests is set to continue until at least 2030.

In a time of climate crisis, these forests are vital carbon banks, water catchments and essential habitat for threatened species. It is time to tell Nippon Paper to get out of native forests. As the flagship brand for the Maryvale Mill, Reflex paper is the consumer face of native forest logging. Help us to boycott woodchipping and kick Reflex out of native forests.

Logging water catchments: Victoria’s Central Highlands

Every year about three hundred hectares of Melbourne’s water catchments in the central highalnds are clearfell logged. Approximately seven out of every ten trees cut down are sent to the Australian Paper pulp mill to be woodchipped and made into paper products, including Reflex paper.

The forests of Victoria’s central highlands are irreplaceable. Dominated by Mountain Ash (Eucalyptus regnans), the tallest flowering plants in the world, these forests are vital habitat to threatened species such as the Leadbeaters Possum, the Spot Tailed Glider the Powerful Owl, and the Baw Baw frog. The area also contains Gondwanic remnant forests of Myrtle Beech and Sassafras. Covering 1.1 million hectares the Central Highlands is a place of exquisite diversity, environmental and community significance. The forests of the Central Highlands are also an essential part of the water cycle within these catchments.

Logging and water loss

Some 90% of Melbourne's tap water comes from the 157,000 hectares of uninhabited native forest spread across our water catchments. When a stable old growth forest is clearfelled, the new emerging forest uses 50% more water than the forest that was cleared. Research by Melbourne Water has shown that it takes the clearfelled forest 150 years to revert back to its pre-logged rate of water use.

The amount of water lost due to logging has been scientifically estimated by government researchers at fifteen gigalitres of water per annum.

Based on the latest Victorian government water usage targets of 150L/person, the 15 Gigalitres of water lost due to catchment logging is equivalent to the water used by 560,000 people per year (or 280,000 households).

During logging operations, the bulldozing of access roads to logging coupes and the destruction of mature forest adds thousands of tonnes of sediment and other pollutants into adjacent water courses. This sediment flows into our dams, lowering water quality and reducing the life expectancy of the dam by clogging it up with silt. Currently logging occurs in five of Melbourne’s water catchments in the Central Highlands.

Melbourne has already lost a huge amount of water because of logging.  Stopping logging today would mean we can begin to reclaim lost water.  In 40 years we would have an extra 16 gigalitres of water every year - that’s enough water for a city of at least 100,000 people.

Logging the Strzezleckis

The Strzelecki Ranges were effectively privatised in 1998 with the sale of the Victorian Plantations Corporation to Hancock Victorian Plantations. Included in the sale in the Strzelecki Ranges was a mixture of old growth forest, native forest and plantation.

Since the sale, forest campaigners led by the local community have fought to protect important forest areas. In 2006 the State Government agreed to protect key rainforest areas, however this deal was overturned by Government and the company in 2008, allowing for the clearfelling of 1500 ha inside the Strzelecki ‘Cores and Links’ Rainforest Reserve. 80% of the timber coming from this Reserve ends up at the Nippon-owned Maryvale Pulp Mill. Maryvale has licences to take about 300,000 cubic metres of hardwood a year from the Strzelecki Ranges, plus a large volume of plantation pine. The Strzeleckis are also home to a range of unique species, including the only endemic koala population in Victoria.

Boycott Reflex, Boycott Nippon Paper

Formed in 2001 through the merger of Nippon Paper Industry and Daishowa Paper Manufacturing, the Nippon Paper Group Inc is Japan's largest pulp and paper company. It has 22 mills in Japan and operations in Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Finland, New Zealand, Russia, South Africa and the US. Sales in 2004 amounted to more than US$11 billion.

In Australia, Reflex paper is the most high profile Nippon brand, with massive sales around the nation. Kicking Reflex out of native forests is a vital step in ensuring Nippon Paper get the message that our forests are too precious to pulp.