Environmental Leader

Staples has joined retailers like Office Depot in no longer doing business with Asia Pulp & Paper due to environmental concerns, Reuters reports.

Environmental groups say APP is involved in illegal logging in Indonesia and China and that the company’s forest-clearing endangers tigers and other animals.

Until recently, Staples sourced about nine percent of its total paper supply from APP. The Wall Street Journal reports Mark Buckley, vice president for environmental issues at Staples, as saying that remaining a customer of APP was “at great peril to our brand.”

Relationships with APP have been problematic for other retailers. Woolworths found itself in hot water last year after claiming that some of its home brand products made from APP-supplied pulp were environmentally sustainable.