Every Box Tells A Story. Sometimes Literally.

Last week I went to grab a box of Kleenex® brand tissues from my closet and noticed that printed on the box was the statement “100% of pulp is from responsibly managed forests.” Then I noticed the other side of the box had another message “100% of our fiber suppliers are certified.”  And finally, a special “seal” of sorts was printed on the bottom of the box. It read “Taking care of you and our planet. Tissues made with responsibly sourced fibers.” 

Wow! I had never seen such a consumer-friendly attempt to convey the managed forest story using almost the entire real estate of the box by an end-use customer simply, honestly and directly.

Like the Kleenex® company, companies participating in the paper checkoff source their fiber from “responsibly managed forests” to make everything from office paper to brown shipping boxes.  But what exactly does that phrase mean?  It means that Kleenex® works only with forest landowners—sometimes companies, but usually families—that have signed onto one of several nationally and globally recognized independent standards for maintaining forest health over the long term. That includes everything from maintaining the surrounding soil and water to protecting wildlife habitat. And, most critically, it means sourcing fiber from areas that are actively replanting and regenerating, ensuring that our forests continue to be a carbon-capturing renewable resource for generations to come.

It’s great to have some help telling the “managed forest” story in the U.S. from familiar and respected brands like Kleenex®. Thank you! I hope this is the first of many brands to use their brand platform to tell their story of how they responsibly source trees to make products from pulp we count on.