KFC UK/Ireland, the UK’s third biggest fast-food retailer, has officially announced its intentions to remove suppliers that contribute to unsustainable sourcing. Asia Pulp & Paper (APP), one of the largest pulp and paper manufacturers in the world and the source of much controversy, is likely to be in the pipeline for removal from KFC’s supply chain.
KFC has updated its packaging statement to reflect the decision that it will not accept products that are “harvested illegally or sourced from protected forest areas.” The company joins a long list of major global brands including Disney, Mattel, Nestlé, Xerox, Kraft, Unilever, and Danone, which have ruled out supply from APP.
Greenpeace brought the relationship between KFC and APP to light in a report published in May which may have contributed to KFC’s recent decision.
Read KFC’s new packaging statement.
UPDATE NOV 1 2012: APP's response
APP released its Sustainability Roadmap Vision 2020 in Jakarta on June 5th 2012 and the first Roadmap update was released on September 5th 2012.
The key policy under our Sustainability Roadmap is the commitment to the identification, protection and the management of High Conservation Value Forest (HCVF), or forest crucial for the conservation of endangered species and its habitat. We also announced our commitment to support the end of deforestation by 2015.
Following the moratorium of APP’s owned pulpwood concessions on natural forest and peatland conversion on June 1st 2012, we have identified independent suppliers who supply our mills with Mixed Tropical Hardwood (MTH) fibre from legal natural forest clearance operations. It is important to note that these operations are conducted on logged-over production forest, not pristine or virgin forests.
APP is listening to Greenpeace’s concerns regarding the use of natural forest fiber in paper production. It is our intention to accelerate the implementation of natural forest clearance moratoria and HCVF commitments in the remaining suppliers engaged in legal natural forest clearance operations.