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The Frog leaves its print on tissue products
27 May 2010
Clearwater Paper, the United States’ largest supplier of private label tissue products for the grocery trade, will be releasing FSC-certified facial tissue paper through their customers’ private brand labels. The tissue will carry both the FSC label and the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal.
Clearwater Paper: “We fulfill a niche for our customers’ brands”
The certified facial tissue will be first of several certified tissue products that will be released throughout the upcoming year.
 Clearwater Paper plans to offer most of their premium and ultra lines with the two labels within the next year and a half. The company sold over 29 million cases of tissue products in 2009 with premium and ultra premium products representing the majority.
According to Matt Van Vleet, Director of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs: “It really fills a niche nationwide, the fact that people have been waiting for this [product] that has not been [widely] available up until this point…We look at it as fulfilling a very important niche for our customers’ brands.”
While the Frog has been successfully displayed on agricultural products such as bananas and tea for some time, this launch marks a major breakthrough in its use on forest-derived products. When used alongside the FSC logo, the Frog seal signifies that the FSC certification is issued by the Rainforest Alliance based on high-quality auditing and a robust certification process.
Clearwater Paper - pioneering responsible wood sourcing
Clearwater Paper’s journey to certifying their facial tissue began over five years ago, when they were limited by a lack of reliable suppliers of FSC material. Despite this sourcing barrier, in 2006 Clearwater Paper was the first company in the U.S to offer a full line of FSC-certified paperboard products.
 “We had the ability to work with not only the auditing people at SmartWood, but they basically introduced us to the whole team at Rainforest Alliance and we’ve had a very positive relationship with the organization and wanted to build on that with this next step in our certification evolution,” said Bruce Woodlief, Director of Marketing.
In the process of certifying their tissue product, Clearwater Paper has been able to educate their staff, create a sense of communal pride, and gain recognition for the rigorous practices they implement in their daily operations.
“We realize that we’re in a business that works with natural resources, [but our raw materials] come from good sources, well managed sustainable forests, and I think people are very proud of that and now we have a symbol to recognize these efforts that have been a very big part of our company for many years,” said Matt Van Vleet.
Tissue with a feel-good factor
Given the importance and everyday use of tissue products in households -from bath tissue to paper towels and napkins - this product will provide a much needed option for conscientious consumers. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Americans use an average of 741 pounds of paper, per person, each year.
“Folks want to feel good about the purchases that they make and they realize that sustainability is becoming an important topic…We believe that having an FSC/Rainforest Alliance certified product will give consumers a good feeling of helping to sustain forestlands while not compromising on product quality,” stated Bruce Woodlief. |
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