Kleenex gets 'E' grade from environmental scorecard

Greenpeace News Release

*********************

TORONTO - Kleenex brand tissue products and its manufacturer Kimberly-Clark (NYSE: KMB) scored a failing grade of "E" on a tissue product scorecard released in the United Kingdom last week. Kimberly-Clark was cited for failing to use recycled fibre in Kleenex tissue products. Rather, the company prefers to buy virgin fibre from clearcut areas in Canada's Boreal Forest.

"This company continues to flush the Boreal Forest down the toilet and people everywhere are waking up to this destruction," said Richard Brooks, forest campaign coordinator with Greenpeace. "Kimberly-Clark is responsible for wiping out the habitat of threatened woodland caribou and further degrading the last pristine and intact areas of Canada's Boreal Forest."

The largest tissue product manufacturer in the world, Kimberly-Clark consumes more than 3.2 million tonnes of virgin fibre each year to make toilet paper, facial tissue and paper towels. Though Kimberly-Clark has promised to begin to buy fibre from responsibly managed forests for its UK products, the company continues to manufacture disposable products for the North American marketplace from virgin sources of fibre with no recycled content.

"A company of this size and reach must step up and show leadership on the important issue of protecting forests and saving the climate," added Brooks.

"With forests a major focus of upcoming international meetings on climate change in Bali, Indonesia, here's a chance for Kimberly-Clark to announce they will fight global warming by replacing some of their virgin tree fibre with recycled paper."

Greenpeace says post-consumer recycled paper is the most environmentally friendly option for disposable products as it uses less energy, water and trees than virgin fibre.

Forests are a major storehouse of greenhouse gases. Logging releases these gases into the atmosphere, contributing to climate change. Canada's Boreal Forest alone stores more than 47.5 billion tonnes of carbon in its soils and trees.

Kimberly-Clark placed second to last in the scorecard from Greenpeace UK, ranking slightly ahead of Procter and Gamble who did not reply to Greenpeace enquiries. The report card can be downloaded from www.greenpeace.org.uk/tissueleaguetable.

*********************