Indonesia’s Sinar Mas Accused of Continuing Forest Destruction

Sinar Mas, one of the world’s largest paper and palm oil companies, is continuing to illegally clear rainforests and peatlands in Indonesia and is planning a massive expansion of its pulp mills there, according to Greenpeace. In a report entitled “How Sinar Mas is Pulping the Planet,” Greenpeace said internal documents from a Sinar Mas subsidiary, Asian Pulp and Paper (APP), show that APP is planning to expand the capacity of its paper pulp mills in Indonesia from 2.6 million metric tons per year to 17.5 million metric tons, leading to intensified destruction of Indonesia’s forests. An APP official labeled such accusations “ridiculous” and said 85 percent of APP’s wood comes from timber plantations, not forests. Although some major international companies, such as Kimberly Clark and Unilever, are phasing out the use of APP products, Greenpeace said other companies, including WalMart and KFC chicken, continue to deal with APP and “are causing Indonesia’s peatland and forests to be slashed and burned for everyday paper products.”