In a letter last week, Greenpeace accused APP of helping to destroy the country’s rainforests and listed several large companies that have decided to stop buying from APP including toymaker Hasbro; the Warehouse; pen maker Montblanc; food retailer Delhaize/Food Lion;  supermarket chain Metcash; international coffee roaster Tchibo; and playing card manufacturer Cartamundi.

Bustar Maitar, Greenpeace South-East Asia forest campaigner says, “APP must stop the destruction of natural forests and peatland conversions. From the perspective of climate change, what APP is doing is far from being sustainable forest management.”

However APP hit back, with Aida Greenbury, managing director of the company saying, “Accusations that APP is destroying forests are not true. APP performs strict due diligence on timber suppliers from around the world and they are audited by world-class auditors.

“Greenpeace is attacking the policies of the Indonesian government, which allows industrial forest concessions in peatland and natural forest areas. Timber from natural forests can be sustainable. The question is: Why are we as an Indonesian company being singled out?”

Greenpeace added that, in the last few years, other major companies had dropped APP, such as toy company Mattel and retailers Carrefour, Auchan, Metro Group and Tesco have all dropped APP from their own-brand products in the last two years.

APP says that 95 per cent of its packaging materials came from recycled paper, while the remainder is sourced from certified forests around the world.

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