UNITE HERE Local 11 supports the Natural Resources Defense Council effort to persuade paper corporations to end sourcing from primary forests and to transition to recycled and sustainable alternative fibers when they make paper. Now you can help!

The NRDC has put out a new action alert to write letters to Procter & Gamble to tell them to stop cutting down forests to create fiber for flagship tissue paper brands like Charmin and Bounty.

The NRDC’s project connects to Local 11’s own advocacy for a transition to sustainable paper. In addition to having already been a supporter of the NRDC’s advocacy on protecting forests (see the Union’s letter to the P&G CEO from 2021, for example), Local 11 has also successfully advocated for requiring hotels to use recycled or sustainable paper in their operations. Hotels and event centers use a lot of tissue paper, so our Union, community, and political allies can have a big impact on climate change by making sure hospitality operations source paper sustainably.

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Procter & Gamble (P&G)

“…sources roughly 1.5 million metric tons of wood pulp each year, about one-third of which comes from Canada, where commercial logging is degrading the planet’s largest remaining intact primary forest. Scientists have long called for action to protect these critical ecosystems, noting that industrial logging of primary forests undermines global climate and biodiversity goals in ways that must no longer go ignored. These forests also sustain hundreds of Indigenous communities, who not only rely on the land but also actively steward it using traditional knowledge and practices that help stabilize the climate, preserve biodiversity, and support local livelihoods.”

More ways you can make a difference:

1. Read Local 11’s letter to P&G in support of the NRDC’s effort to protect forests.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Click here to write your own letter supporting the NRDC’s efforts to protect forests.

3. Buy sustainable paper products for your own family. Refer to the NRDC’s report, “The Issue with Tissue,” which includes a report card about the most sustainable paper options to buy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4. Click here to learn more about the NRDC’s campaign to protect forests.