Kimberly-Clark has just announced the withdrawal of Kleenex from the Canadian market, but the American giant is not leaving the country entirely as it continues to source pulp here to make its Cottonelle tissues and toilet paper.
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In 2022, 14% of the virgin fiber used by Kimberly-Clark to make its products came from Canada, compared to 49% from Brazil and 25% from the United States.
The percentage is even higher at Procter & Gamble, which produces Charmin toilet paper in particular. In 2022, as many as 40% of the pulp used by the Cincinnati multinational to produce its tissue paper products sold in North America came from Canada, compared to 45% for Latin America and 11% for the United States. United States.
“Nonsense”
“You take a high-quality fiber to make disposable paper like Kleenex or toilet paper, that’s nonsense,” criticizes the Abitibian ecologist Henri Jacob, president of L’Action boréale. He remembers that many of the trees cut down in Quebec are over 70 years old.
Tissues and toilet paper made from recycled fibers are still rarely found on retail shelves. In Canada, the largest manufacturers of these products are the Quebec company Kruger (Scotties and Cashmere brands) and the New Brunswick company Irving (Royale). Even Cascades, known for its recycled products, makes tissue paper from virgin fibers.
Tissue papers made from recycled fibers are still few and far between on retail shelves. Sylvain Larocque
“Several companies will tell you that consumers demand softness and that virgin fiber is absolutely necessary to produce products that meet this criterion. I think that’s just not true,” says Ashley Jordan of the American environmental organization Natural Resources Defense Council.
“Conserving the boreal forest is critical in the global fight against climate change,” she adds. It is disgusting to use it to make products that we throw away after a few seconds.”
Ashley Jordan photo from LinkedIn
Quebec is the third largest producer of paper pulp in Canada, after British Columbia and Alberta. In 2022, we exported – primarily to the United States – $1.4 billion, or about 17% of the Canadian total.
Note that Kimberly-Clark has committed to reducing its consumption of fiber from natural forests by 50% by 2025 compared to 2011 figures. However, in 2022, the company purchased more of these fibers from Canada (but in return, it purchased less). Scandinavia).
Processing of by-products
When asked by Le Journal, the Quebec forestry lobby assured that the production of tissue paper has no direct impact on the environment.
“In Quebec, we don’t cut down trees to make toilet paper,” said Jean-François Samray, CEO of the Quebec Forest Industry Council.
Jean-François Samray Photo from LinkedIn
“The pulp used to make toilet paper comes from processing by-products from sawmills,” he continued. This allows us to use 100% of the trees harvested in Quebec.”