Kimberly-Clark unveils wood fibre sustainability targets

Kimberly-Clark has unveiled new plans to make significant reductions to its forest fibre footprint.

The health and personal care firm has pledged to source at least 50 percent of its wood fibre needs from alternative sources instead of natural forests by 2025, a move that will help prevent deforestation, while protecting the company from price fluctuations in this market.

Kimberly-Clark used nearly 750,000 metric tonnes of primary wood fibre sourced from natural forests in 2011, meaning this pledge will see the equivalent of more than 3.5 billion rolls of toilet paper sourced sustainably.

Suhas Apte, vice-president for global sustainability at Kimberly-Clark, said: "In the long run, we hope that one day all of our fibre needs will be met from sources that collectively have maximum land use efficiencies while minimising impact on people and our planet."

This comes after the firm was presented with the 2012 Circle of Excellence award from the Distribution Business Management Association for its environmental commitment last month.