Expose Woolworths

Woolworths’ “dirty little secret” – staff boycott the company’s own Select brand

2008-04-21T01:00:00.000-07:00

Since the ABC and Channel 10 News aired reports about Woolworths supermarkets’ green-washing campaign surrounding the Select toilet paper and tissues, Today Tonight has also stepped up its game and has investigated the issue.

Today Tonight (Seven Network) went to a town in South Australia where the local Woolworths store has boycotted the company’s own Select toilet paper, tissues and paper towel.

The store, in a town called Millicent, has banned the Select paper products saying that if locally produced products aren’t good enough, then nothing is.

This all seems to stem from there being a manufacturing plant in the town, which employs local workers.

What the report doesn’t adequately cover is that manufacturing plants in Australia have to conform to certain environmental practices, where as those in foreign, developing nations, such as APP in Indonesia and China, ignore logging laws and instead massacre forests in old growth, high-conservation areas.

The investigative reporter makes a good point – that if Woolworths continues to source its products from cheaper, questionable sources from overseas, that over 100,000 hectares of pine and gum tree plantations that employ Australian workers, will be wiped out.

All of this will happen while Woolworths continues to fund the carbon-emitting practices of APP, simply by sourcing its toilet paper and tissue from Indonesia and China.

Toilet paper is maybe the most-used item on everyone’s shopping list – so the fact that enormous quantities of it are being sourced from environmentally un-friendly, unsustainable and illegal sources, should be of concern to us all.

The video I got of the report is well-worth a look. I’ve posted it on YouTube and it’s embedded below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLSCR-wI5e8

It’s common knowledge that Select is a huge money-maker for Woolworths. But Michael Luscombe really needs to realise that these dodgy business practices are not acceptable and are un-Australian.

Woolworths exposed on TV x 2! Channel 10 & The ABC

2008-02-29T20:31:00.000-08:00

It's about time really. This week the ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation in Australia) and Channel 10 News in Sydney each aired a report about Woolworths and Safeway supermarkets' contempt for the environment and for shoppers.

The reports, on ABC Lateline and the 5 O'Clock News specifically, told how Woolworths is still stocking the toilet paper, tissues, paper towel, napkins / serviettes, which are made by Asia Pulp & Paper (APP). This is in spite of the fact that Woolworths know APP logs forests UNSUSTAINABLY.

The reports told just how terrible Woolworths is by plastering those silly grey stickers over the environmental claims on the back of all the packets (check previous posts for pictures and details).

The reporters gave a demonstration of the stickers being pulled off the back of the packs, and just how dodgy Woolworths are being, trying to cover up the claims of environmental righteousness.

I caught Lateline, but missed the 5 O'Clock News on ten. Luckily they ran it again and I got to see it. Take a look as I'll post up some good footage.

My net connection is slow, so if the videos don't appear below, come back tomorrow as I'll keep trying to upload them.

Woolies pay lip service to the environment

2008-01-22T20:54:00.000-08:00

An article in Monday’s Sydney Morning Herald reports Woolworths (Safeway) supermarkets have suddenly developed an environmental conscience.

The report, by Ben Cubby, details Woolworths’ plan to “conform to stringent environmental standards” by upgrading most of their old supermarket fridges.

The fridges currently in use by Woolworths and Safeway are described as chronically leaking potent greenhouse gas as well as having “high energy consumption”.

So the fact that Woolworths Ltd. has now decided to upgrade some of their environmentally damaging greenhouse gas-emitting fridges, is great. HOWEVER, the faact still remains that Woolworths (including Safeway), continue to permit the destruction of the environment through the suppliers of their OWN HOMEBRAND SELECT tissue products.

Back in November 2007, for the company AGM, Woolworths promised to investigate their suppliers, Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) – a company the WWF wont even certify because of all of the environmental damage they do.

Yet Michael Luscombe has done nothing!! The company has not announced their findings, or even that the investigation is underway. If they can not confirm that their toilet paper, tissue and paper towel is from sustainable sources, the product should be REMOVED FROM THE SHELVES. Once again, I think this is just a stalling tactic from Woolworths, hoping shoppers will forget.

Woolworths continue to be an environmental vandal every day they sell the Select toilet paper, tissues and paper towel.

APP Exposed! FSC won't certify them

2007-11-01T01:03:00.000-07:00

This finally blows Woolworths right out of the water!

Here is a story from the Wall Street Journal that shows the world's most credentialed forestry authority saying APP doesn’t have sustainable products, and that they can't use the FSC logo.

In essence they are saying that APP's pulp and paper come from UNSUSTAINABLE sources - this backs up what i've been saying in this blog for the past 3 months.

Woolworths is again selling the toilet paper from China, still WITH the “sustainable forest fibre” logo. Again Woolworths is misleading consumers.

All of Woolworths’ claims that they will look into APP’s sourcing of paper and pulp are just stalling tactics.

Here's the first bit of the story - click on the link to see the whole thing.

FSC's 'Green' Label for Wood Products Gets Growing Pains By Tom Wright and Jim Carlton

30 October 2007

The Wall Street Journal

The environmental group that runs a widely recognized labeling system to identify "green" wood and paper products has acknowledged that some companies using its label are destroying pristine forests and says it plans to overhaul its rules.

The admission by the Forest Stewardship Council, based in Bonn, threatens the credibility of an organization whose tree-with-a-check-mark logo adorns products for sale at big retailers including Home Depot Inc., Lowe's Cos. and Ikea AB.

Some environmentalists have long complained the FSC's rules are too lax.

A catalyst for the group's move to tighten its standard came earlier this month when it emerged that Singapore-based Asia Pulp & Paper Co. Ltd. -- one of the largest paper companies in the developing world and a target of criticism for its forestry practices -- planned to start using the FSC logo. The FSC has also faced questions about companies in other parts of the world that use its logo.

Woolworths "breaking its own Corporate Social Responsibility Charter...

2007-10-30T00:08:00.000-07:00

...by knowingly selling ineffective and possibly harmful products”

A story in yesterday’s Sydney Morning Herald says that Woolworths is putting people at risk by continuing to sell herbal weight-loss powders and pills that a leading medical scientist says are dangerous.

Professor Lesley Campbell from St Vincent’s hospital in Sydney is demanding that Woolworths justify its decision to continue selling the weight-loss pill Xantrax, even through the pill distributor has been banned by the TGA from making appetite-suppressant and weight-loss claims.

This is yet another example of Woolworths trying to absolve themselves of their ethical responsibilities. Their Corporate Social Responsibility charter states a pledge to “always be truthful in what we advertise and how we promote the products we sell”. Clearly their charter isn’t worth the paper it’s written on (no doubt supplied by APP from unsustainable forest fibre).

Professor Campbell has ‘put Woolworths on notice’, saying that should anyone suffer an adverse effect or die because of the TGA-banned products they’re selling, that St. Vincent’s hospital will use its record of correspondence to prove Woolworths continued to sell the discredited products despite knowing they were ineffective and possibly dangerous.

I’m glad Professor Campbell is putting pressure on Woolworths about this.

Woolworths just continues to treat us with contempt.

ANZ should put pressure on Woolworths to be responsible

2007-10-23T00:53:00.000-07:00

In case you missed it,

1. ANZ has installed 700+ ATMs in Woolworths and Safeway stores.
2. ANZ was recently ranked as leading global bank in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index http://www.anz.com/australia/support/library/mr/mr20070910.pdf

As the leading global bank in terms of corporate social responsibility and sustainability, should not be dealing with a company that is using unsustainable and un-environmental measures to increase its profits.

I am calling on ANZ to put pressure on Woolworths to do the right thing, and not allow Woolworths to taint the bank’s ranking like this.

The Greens comment on Woolworths

2007-10-10T04:09:00.000-07:00

I was just linking my previous blog back to the Sydney Morning Herald website, when I found that this story is also on the website.

Woolworths under fire over 'green' paper

In this story too, Greens MP, John Kaye, said they will take make a complaint to the ACCC - great news!

The article wasn't in the paper today (if you see it in the paper, let me know and I'll post it up here - sustainable55 at hotmail . com)

Thanks again to John Kaye, for all of his help in this issue. It's really great to know that there are politicians who will take on the big businesses and stand up for consumers.

New Dodgy Labelling: Woolworths puts illegally logged tissue back on the shelves

2007-10-10T04:00:00.000-07:00

Woolworths has reached new lows. Not only has it put its illegally logged tissues and paper towel back on the shelves, it has covered up their fake logo “Sustainable Forest Fibre”. To get around the problem they had of the misleading labelling, they’ve now just put grey stickers over the “sustainable forest fibre” part.

Here’s a couple of pictures

Woolworths is still selling exactly the same UN-sustainable, illegally logged product from APP to the public.

It was reported in the Sydney Morning Herald today too.

While they have technically gotten around the false and misleading labelling issue, they are still treating us like idiots.

The company said they would get the World Wildlife Fund to look into the source of the products – but the WWF hasn’t said anything at all about it. Woolworths has just popped it back on the shelves, obviously hoping no one would notice, or that we all would have forgotten.

Woolworths, we don’t want this product!

Labor pledges a crackdown on illegal timber imports – what on earth will Woolworths and Safeway do?

2007-10-03T23:17:00.000-07:00

Today The Australian newspaper has a story on page 5 about the Labor party pledging to crackdown on illegal timber imports into Australia if they win the election.

Forestry and Conservation Minister for the Liberal Government, Eric Abetz, admits that “10 per cent of Australia’s timber imports were sourced illegally”.

HOWEVER, he goes on to say that “to ban illegal imports would actually mean banning most timber imports” – meaning most of the stuff that comes into Australia now is actually illegally logged! Of course this must include the illegally logged products that Woolworths imports from APP.

What I want to know if the Labor party is elected, will proposed crackdown apply to timber-derived products that come into the country too, like paper and paper pulp. If it does, then maybe this is what will finally force Woolworths to stop using illegally logged pulp products imported from Asia in their own Select brand toilet paper, tissues and paper towel.

What Woolworths (Safeway) is doing is ethically wrong! We need to keep telling them that they can’t do this in Australia! Go here to tell them what you think, or email me (sustainable55 at hotmail . com) and tell me what you think about it. Let me know what you think of the blog too.

Here is the article from today’s paper.

Woolworths & Safeway selling dodgy toilet paper AGAIN!

2007-09-16T03:52:00.001-07:00

Surprise surprise! Woolworths Limited has treated consumers like total fools by putting their dodgy and misleadingly labelled Select brand toilet paper back on the shelves.

After being so publicly shamed last month into taking their Select upmarket-home brand off the shelves in Australia and New Zealand, they have put the same toilet paper back on the shelves. I went into my local store last week, and was totally flabbergasted when I saw it! Since then I've checked out a few other shops in the Sydney area, and they too all have the toilet paper back on the shelf.

As far as I'm aware, Woolworths has given no reason as to why they are AGAIN selling toilet paper made by a company that gets its paper pulp by logging old growth forests. I checked their website, but found no statement.

We can not let Australia's biggest supermarket do this and intentionally mislead customers for the sake of their own greedy profits. Our environment is at stake here. When even the Australian Prime Minister admits that we need to address climate change, Woolworths should not be using a company that actively destroys the planet and contributes to environmental damage to this extent.

It's disgusting Woolworths, that you treat us like morons.

Waiting and watching to see what Woolworths and Luscombe do

2007-09-03T04:30:00.000-07:00

I was looking over what Michael Luscombe who’s the CEO of Woolworths, looking at what he said last week, and I’m really worried that this is not the end of the problem.

If you look carefully what he said, you’ll see he is leaving plenty of room (semantics, weasel words, call it what you will) so that Woolworths can go away, put new labels on the old product, and use new packaging to put the same old products back on the shelves. The fact that the packaging doesn’t say it’s environmentally friendly doesn’t make the logging of old growth forests and the bullying tactics used by Woolworths’ supplier, in any way acceptable, at all.

That sort of action is totally contemptuous of the public and of ethical practice. If the products come from a suspect company then it doesn’t matter if you change the packaging!

We must remain vigilant - we can’t let Woolworths get away with such fraud. These products should never be put back on the shelves until we can all independently verify that they come from sustainable plantations.

We can’t trust Woolworths to tell us the truth and I don’t want them to get away with putting the products on sale again under new packaging.

Keep contacting Woolworths on the numbers in other posts to tell them you won’t let them get away with treating customers like idiots and destroying forests and habitat in China and Indonesia.

Victory! Wooworths recalls the product

2007-08-29T19:15:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry I haven’t updated the blog for a few days but I’ve been unwell.

Thank you to all those of you who helped in this campaign.

We now have some success! On Monday Woolworths said they would take the Select toilet and facial tissues which are manufactured by APP off the shelves. You can read what the Woolworths ceo said here.

Thank you to all those who helped me this far and I hope they will continue to help: John Kaye, the Green member for the NSW Parliament, the reporters Wendy Frew at the Herald, the ABC, Friends of the Earth too and others who helped, including the CFMEU union.

Please keep watching Woolworths like I will because I don’t trust them.

Woolworths admits

2007-08-26T19:17:00.000-07:00

Wendy Frew, a reporter at the Sydney Morning Herald has written another story on Saturday about Woolworths. Now the company has admitted to using Asia Pulp and Paper as a supplier.

See the story here ("Admission Tears Strips Off Woolies' Green Tissues" 25th August).

The ABC has also done a report or two on the issue of Woolworths / Safeway supermarkets and their misleading labeling and APP's bad environmental practices - i've put the links in below.

Woolworths Admits to Deceptive Packaging Claims

Certification Body Hits Out At Woolworths "Environmental" Tag

Woolworths Exposed in the Newspaper!

2007-08-23T00:04:00.000-07:00

Today a story appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald exposing Woolworths' dodgy, misleading labelling.

Here's the introduction -

"AUSTRALIA'S largest supermarket chain, Woolworths, is marketing some of its tissue and paper products as environmentally responsible even though the paper is imported from Indonesia, a country with one of the world's worst records for illegal and unsustainable logging.

It also appears to be sourcing at least some of the paper from Asia Pulp and Paper, an Indonesian company with what green groups have described as an appalling environment and human rights reputation." (SMH Online 23 August 07).

From what the jouranalist wrote, it appears Woolworths is still trying to avoid saying anything about their relationship with Asia Pulp & Paper.

Woolworths can't ignore these questions much longer. More and more people are concerned with the environment, and it is disgusting that woolies lies to shoppers about the source of their pulp.

We all need to question our country's biggest retailer - call Woolworths and ask them to explain!

(02) 8885 0000

Or write to them and request a formal reply:

Woolworths Head Office
Attention: Mr. Michael Luscombe (Cheif Executive)
1 Woolworths Way
Bella Vista 2153
.

*Great thanks goes to Mr John Kaye, Greens MP MLC, for his work is taking this issue public.*

Woolworths' Environment Policy - corporate fiction

2007-08-20T23:04:00.000-07:00

Woolworths claim to have a “corporate social responsibility” commitment (see the Environment and Community Report 2006 on their website). Part of the report is an environment policy which states:

Woolworths’ commitment to protecting the environment from processing impact is an important consideration in the manufacture, processing and supply of products to our business. Where possible, Woolworths supports the use of recyclable packaging. Processing considerations should also be given for recycling, reducing and reusing process inputs to reduce any impact on the outside environment

This just highlights the extent to which Woolworths is willing to lie to consumers, when you can see that clearly the products which go into their Select paper products do not meet the claims on the packaging. The logos on the packaging have been designed by Woolworths to indicate to consumers that the product has less of an impact on the environment.

Proof Woolworths use APP for their pulp

2007-08-19T21:47:00.000-07:00

I got an email from someone yesterday asking how they could tell if Woolworths was in fact being supplied by APP as it doesn’t say this anywhere on the pack.

Well, the Select “pocket pack facial tissues” 6 pack (the little packets for the kid’s schoolbags) actually have the APP logo embossed on the tissues.

Woolworths have obviously become aware of this and are trying to hide it, because at some stores they have new packets that don’t have the embossing.

I did manage to purchase some more of the ones that say APP on the weekend.

So I’ve taken some photos so you can see…

More good news

2007-08-17T20:06:00.000-07:00

I've been in contact with a Member of Parliament from the Greens, and he has taken an interest in the issue.

He has contacted Woolworths, only to get an "evasive response" about the source of their products.

The big Aussie retailer is looking more and more suspect!

Good News!

2007-08-14T21:22:00.000-07:00

We are making progress!

One of the organisations I contacted about this problem, Friends of the Earth, said they’re interested. They recognise that what Woolworths is doing is wrong and have promised to look into my complaint and take the matter up further.

But I need your help, too.

We need to show support for Friends of the Earth in this case so please contact them and tell them you are behind them in trying to tell Woolworths that it is NOT acceptable to lie to shoppers.

The bottom line is not a good enough reason.

Here’s the FOE phone number: (03) 9419 8700.

Let me know what you think – sustainable55@hotmail.com or post back here.

Woolworths Lies on YouTube

2007-08-08T23:42:00.001-07:00

video on woolworths and their misleading labeling

CFMEU admits this is happening - Woolworths using illegal sources for their Select brand

2007-08-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

Found this on the weekend - it's from the CFMEU. Their workers are losing out because Woolworths is importing the cheap, illegally sourced pulp from APP in Asia.

It's not a very clear pic, so I'll try to get another up soon.

--

Others watching Asia Pulp & Paper

2007-07-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

Here's a link that's really interesting. This group is documenting what APP has been doing illegally.

http://appwatch.blogspot.com/

This is what Woolworths uses to make their Select brand toilet paper. Hardly what you'd call sustainable!

This link shows the intimidation tactics used on local villagers by the company. There is a long history of this behaviour by APP and its subsiduaries, and it continues now -

http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2005/032005/reynolds.html

More pix of the packaging

2007-07-23T03:30:00.000-07:00

These are some more pix of the packaging of Woolworths Select brand. See the labels that say it's sourced from sustainable forest fibre.

Totally misleading!!!

I'll get some more links up soon that show more about what Woolworths keeps doing to knowingly deceive the public.

Sustainable55.

False Advertising & False Labelling

2007-07-18T21:57:00.000-07:00

These are some of the products they sell, labelled as being environmentally friendly, when Woolworths know full well they're not.

Here is some stuff that I've sourced about their supplier online. Friends of the Earth wrote a paper on APP (who supplies pulp to Woolworths)

http://www.foe.co.uk/resource/briefings/asia_pulp_and_paper.pdf

Welcome to the lies Woolworths tells you

2007-07-16T22:39:00.000-07:00

I’ve started this blog with the aim of letting people know what’s going on inside their shopping trolley.

So you know that Woolworths are stocking up their shelves with their own "Select" brand.

About two months ago I found out that Woolworths have been using a supplier for their paper (tissues, toilet paper etc) that sources the paper pulp by logging old growth forests in Asia.

I've never really been much of a greenie, but what pisses me off is that Woolworths package the stuff with all of these claims of "environmental sustainability". Have a look at their labeling. It's a total lie. Woolworths' supplier, a company called APP (Asia Pulp & Paper) have a whole history of crooked dealings, and an absolutely atrocious environmental record.

I've sourced some info on this company, and will post it up in the next few days.