Supermarkets in Singapore pull plug on haze-linked firm's products
By Jessica Lim, The Straits Times, 8 Oct 2015
Supermarket chains NTUC FairPrice, Sheng Siong and Prime Supermarket have pulled all Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) items off their shelves, including popular brands such as Paseo.
The Dairy Farm group, which operates chains such as Guardian, 7-Eleven, Cold Storage and Giant, has also stopped replenishing APP stock. It will continue to sell existing items till they run out.
FairPrice was the first to make the announcement on Wednesday (Oct 7) morning, followed by the others later in the day.
Their actions came after the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) temporarily suspended the green label of APP's exclusive distributor in Singapore, Universal Sovereign Trading.
On Sept 30, the SEC had also asked 17 firms, including FairPrice, to sign a form to declare that they do not carry products from five companies, including APP, which are under probe over their possible link to the haze-causing forest fires. The form also asks firms to state that they have not been convicted in any court in relation to the haze.
On Wednesday, the SEC sent the same form to Prime, Dairy Farm, Sheng Siong, Ikea, Unity Pharmacy and Watsons.
Ikea said it does not buy from the firms under probe. Unity signed the form on Wednesday, while Watsons is still working with its suppliers and will make a decision soon.
FairPrice carries two housebrand goods supplied by APP and 16 other APP-related products including the Paseo, Nice and Jolly brands.
All these items were pulled off the shelves at its over 290 outlets, including Cheers convenience stores, by 5pm yesterday.
Late last month, the National Environment Agency began legal action against APP and four Indonesian firms it believes to be behind the burning. The haze from forest fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra has spread to Thailand after blanketing the skies and affecting the air quality in parts of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines in recent weeks.
FairPrice chief executive Seah Kian Peng said the chain took some time to decide to pull APP's products and sign the declaration because "as a fair business partner, we reserved taking action pending further information and investigation by the authorities".
The final decision was made after SEC temporarily restricted APP's green label certification. Mr Seah said APP's products would be reinstated if the firm is found to be innocent and gets back its green label.
The move to pull APP's products, he said, cost the chain "millions". "It does hurt us financially... but this goes beyond just the financial impact. I think it is the right thing for us to do, it is the responsible thing for us to do," said Mr Seah.
Dear friends of FairPrice,We will withdraw all paper products sourced from Asia Pulp and Paper Group (APP) from all...
Posted by NTUC FairPrice on Tuesday, October 6, 2015
APP's managing director of sustainability Aida Greenbury said the firm "is firmly against forest fire" and that it deployed 2,900 firefighters and fire suppression helicopters to deal with the situation.
"We understand why FairPrice feels the need to take urgent action... but accuracy is just as important," she said. "The fire situation is complex and both the Singapore and Indonesia governments and authorities are still investigating the situation."
Mr Loh Weiwen, 33, an in-house legal counsel, hailed the supermarkets' move. "It is a very prompt response that is surprising to many shoppers in a good way. I hope other retailers follow suit ."
Additional reporting by Francis Chan and Jalelah Abu Baker
SEC and CASE step up engagement efforts by getting leadingsupermarkets, pharmacies, furniture retailers to declare that theirwood, paper and/or pulp materials are procured from sustainablesources
Posted by Singapore Environment Council on Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Green labels in the spotlight following haze in the region
Companies in Singapore must meet stringent requirements before they are issued such labels, which are an endorsement of a company's environmentally-friendly claims.
By Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia, 8 Oct 2015
Green labels are now in the spotlight following the haze that is engulfing the region. In Singapore, companies must meet stringent requirements before they are issued such labels, which are an endorsement of a company's environmentally-friendly claims.
The Singapore Environment Council (SEC), which administers the scheme, on Thursday (Oct 8) made this point amid questions over the rigour of the certification process.
Asia Pulp and Paper Group (APP), which carries the Singapore Green Label, had its certification temporarily restricted, following investigations into the company's role in starting foreign fires in Indonesia. APP is one of five Indonesian companies that National Environment Agency (NEA) is taking action against over the haze pollution.
There are about 3,000 products sold in Singapore which carry the Singapore Green Label. These include paper products from APP, which have since been taken off the shelves by two major supermarket chains in Singapore.
APP was issued the green label five years ago, and the certification has to be renewed every year.
Singapore Green Labelling Scheme’s stringent criteria sets the benchmark for green products. Find out more here.
Posted by Singapore Environment Council on Thursday, October 8, 2015
According to SEC, APP met all the requirements at the point of submitting its green label application. Said SEC's executive director, Mr Edwin Seah: "In the case of paper products, we require them to provide evidence that their raw material has been sourced sustainably, so one of the documentations is they must have a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification.
“However beyond that, we also look at their energy usage, the bleaching that they use and the colouring that they use. Included also are third-party accredited test lab reports that they have to submit to us."
Once the green label is issued, the Council conducts quarterly mystery audits and picks random products for tests. There has not been an issue with APP, until recently.
Said Mr Seah: "Given the current haze situation and them being one of the companies named by NEA, we took the step to decide that it might be in the consumer's interest for us to put a temporary restriction on the use of the green label."
It was that move that led to at least two supermarket chains - NTUC FairPrice and Sheng Siong - pulling out all APP-related products off the shelves. The Indonesian company, which has a branch in Singapore, has cried foul saying the move was premature, since investigations are ongoing.
However, the Council remains firm in its stance. Mr Seah said: "It is not premature because the companies in question have already been identified by the NEA as possibly causing the haze. So, I think it is only right that we, together with CASE (Consumers Association of Singapore) and some of these major retailers, take the necessary actions to protect, not just consumers but Singaporeans in general, from irresponsible manufacturers that in the first place brought about the haze."
The suspension of the green label is temporary, pending the completion of both the Council's and NEA's investigations. Depending on the results, the certification could either be reinstated or revoked.
Earlier this week, SEC reached out to 17 companies which have products certified under the Singapore Green Labelling Scheme. They were asked to declare that they have not procured or used any wood, paper or pulp material from the five companies currently under investigation by the Singapore Government for starting the forest fires in Indonesia.
Now, out of the 17 companies, 14 have sent in their declaration forms. The three that have not have had their Singapore Green Label certification temporarily restricted. The three companies are PT Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper, PT Pabrik Kertas Tjiwi Kimia and Universal Sovereign Trading.
More firms on board for 'haze-free' declaration
Apart from wood, paper makers, SEC plans to work with others such as palm oil industry
By Jessica Lim, Consumer Correspondent, The Straits Times, 8 Oct 2015
Even as more firms signed a declaration that their products are free of raw materials from companies being investigated for forest fires in Indonesia, many noted that it was hard to pinpoint an item's source.
Tissue paper distributor Tipex and printer paper supplier Mukim Fine Papers signed on Tuesday. FairPrice, Unity Pharmacy and Malaysia Newsprint Industries did so yesterday, bringing to 15 the number of firms that have signed.
Tipex said in a statement to The Straits Times that it does not own plantations and mills, and so does not make paper products itself.
"Rather, these are sourced from various suppliers, internationally," said its spokesman Cindy Lim. "Due to the involvement of many parties in the process, companies may not be privy to one another's internal business and work processes."
Mukim Fine Papers simply stopped ordering from Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) - one of the five firms under probe - altogether.
Said its business development manager Ben Chua: "We cannot trace what is happening at APP so it's best that we just stop selling its products."
On Monday, the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) released a list of firms that had signed the declaration. It has so far sent the form to 23 firms that manufacture or sell wood and paper products.
SEC's plan is to also start working with other industries known to contribute to the haze and deforestation - for instance, palm oil product manufacturers and retailers.
Errant pulpwood plantation owners typically burn land to clear it quickly after logging season, said experts. Many also burn adjacent forests to open up new land to expand their plantations. Wayward oil palm plantation owners are also known to clear land this way.
Culprits are difficult to trace as supply chain processes are muddied by factors such as a lack of land ownership information in Indonesia.
World Wide Fund for Nature Indonesia's Global Forest and Trade Network Coordinator Aditya Bayunanda said that for palm oil, for instance, mills - which extract crude palm oil - are supplied by hundreds of plantations.
Traders, he said, go round to small independently-owned oil palm farms, collect the fruit, then supply it to a main supplier, which trucks it to mills.
This, said Associate Professor Tan Yan Weng, head of SIM University's logistics and supply chain management programme, causes "everything to get mixed up".
There are other complications, said SEC's head of eco-certification Kavickumar Muruganathan. Retailers here typically obtain the rights to sell a product from distributors, which then arrange with overseas manufacturers to import the stock.
"Manufacturers might own plantations, but some strike deals with landowners on the side to use their land. Some also ask other suppliers to sell the fruit to them on an ad hoc basis if demand spikes," he said, adding that errant firms pay farmers to use their land for oil palm.
On paper, the land is owned by the farmer and the firm is not implicated. There is also no map of land ownership available, making the task of pinpointing the owners of a plantation difficult.
However, Nanyang Technological University's Professor Ang Peng Hwa, who co-founded the Haze Elimination Action Team volunteer group, urged retailers to stop "putting up a smokescreen".
"It is true it can be difficult. But retailers have to ask suppliers to show them certification," said Prof Ang. "Consumers also have a role to play to demand higher standards."
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international organisation, has certified 111 companies here to use its trademarks on products. FSC's Asia-Pacific regional director Alistair Monument said that every player in the supply chain for these products is audited yearly.
Paper mills involved, for instance, have to keep records of inputs and outputs so that the origin of the fibres can be checked.
Many will boycott products from haze-causing firms: Poll
Some believe such a move can be effective in penalising the culprits, and that such efforts can make a difference
By Jalelah Abu Baker and Yuen Sin, The Straits Times, 9 Oct 2015
Many people will boycott products from companies that are contributing to the ongoing haze, according to a street poll of 50 people by The Straits Times yesterday.
The reasons they gave included wanting to penalise the companies for causing the haze by decreasing demand for their products and to send a message that they are not happy with the companies' actions.
Out of the 50 people surveyed, half said they will not buy products from such companies.
Another 19 believed that boycotting these goods would have no effect, while the rest sat on the fence.
"If they have not taken care in what they are doing, and are affecting the lives of a big part of the region, they should be penalised," said financial planner Daniel Tay.
The 45-year-old said that the haze has become something "out of control" and believes that Singapore has the clout to influence these firms despite being a small country.
Housewife Dawn Wee, 49, said: "They should bear some responsibility for their actions - making profits at the expense of people's health."
Tutor Angeline Tan, 44, said it did not matter even if she were the only one to boycott these companies, adding that "it starts from one".
Mr Seah Seng Choon, executive director of the Consumers Association of Singapore, echoed her sentiment. "If every one of us plays a part, it will certainly send a strong signal to the companies. If we combine all our efforts, we will be a formidable force," he said.
He added that he has reached out to the regional office of Consumer International in Kuala Lumpur to inform consumer bodies to put pressure on companies to stop slash- and-burn practices that cause the haze.
Last month, the National Environment Agency began legal action against five companies, including Asia Pulp and Paper, which are believed to be behind the burning.
In the poll yesterday, nearly 20 felt that boycotting products from the firms involved will not help.
Mr Neo Heng Wei, 20, a student, said: "It doesn't address the root problem, which is the fact that burning the trees is the fastest method of clearing the forest. Educating these workers is most important."
Others sat on the fence, saying that their decision to boycott the products depended on how essential the products were to them, and whether there were alternatives.
Top 3 reasons to boycott or not
YES
• Need to penalise companies economically for causing the haze.
• It is a way of decreasing supply of products by decreasing demand.
• Sends a message that they are unhappy with the companies' actions.
NO
• Does not address the root cause of the haze.
• Singapore is too small and lacks the economic clout needed to influence companies' behaviour.
• They are not affected by the haze.
Joint press statement: List of companies declared to have their wood, paper and/or pulp materials procured from sustainable sources not contributing to the haze
Posted by Singapore Environment Council on Wednesday, October 7, 2015
10 firms declare their paper products sold in Singapore are from sustainable sources
By Lee Min Kok, The Straits Times, 5 Oct 2015
Ten companies which manufacture paper products sold in Singapore have pledged that they do not use raw materials from the five Indonesian firms believed to be responsible for the ongoing forest fires.
A joint press release by the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and the Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) on Monday (Oct 5) said that all 10 firms, which are certified under the Singapore Green Labelling Scheme (SGLS), have signed declarations forms.
SEC and CASE also revealed that they were awaiting declaration forms from seven other third-party manufacturers.
The list of all the companies which have signed will be updated regularly on both agencies' websites.
SEC is also encouraging other paper companies which have not participated in the SGLS to contact it for certification.
However, certified firms which are found purchasing wood, paper or pulp products from companies suspected to be involved in the haze pollution are bound by the declaration to inform SEC. They will then be removed from the list.
SEC and CASE Joint Statement
Look out for the Green Label to buy products that are sustainably sourced.
Posted by Singapore Environment Council on Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Meanwhile, CASE has issued a reminder urging consumers not to support companies using such products unless they have pledged to be socially responsible.
"This will send a strong signal to the errant companies that consumers' goodwill should not be taken for granted and consumers will not support companies which are environmentally irresponsible and/or have contributed to the environmental disaster year after year," it added.
Last month, Singapore started legal action against five companies that it believes are among the culprits behind Indonesia's pollution fires.
Four are Indonesian companies which have been told to take measures to extinguish fires on their land, not to start new ones, and submit action plans on how they will prevent future fires.
The remaining one is Singapore-listed firm Asia Pulp and Paper. It has been served a legal notice to supply information on its subsidiaries in Singapore and Indonesia, as well as measures taken by its suppliers in Indonesia to put out fires in their concessions.
'Half of supermarket products here contain palm oil'
By Jessica Lim, Consumer Correspondent, The Straits Times, 9 Oct 2015
Paper products may just be the tip of the iceberg: Many grocery items here could come from plantations that contribute to the haze.
In an exclusive interview with The Straits Times yesterday, Mr Stefano Savi from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) said about half of products on supermarket shelves here contain palm oil - from toothpaste and cosmetics to bread and frozen fries. Mr Savi, the global outreach and engagement director of RSPO, a palm oil certification body, added that as much as 80 per cent of global palm oil is uncertified.
"While we are sure about the origins and the sustainability criteria under which 20 per cent of global palm oil is produced, we are not able to claim the same for the other 80 per cent," he said, adding that the 1,400 fires that occurred in Indonesia in the whole of last month were within oil palm plantations.
Errant oil palm plantation owners set fire to adjacent forests to open up new land for growing. Some also use this method to clear their plantations after a crop cycle.
The culprits are difficult to trace as supply chain processes are muddied by factors such as a lack of land ownership information in Indonesia and bulk processing, in which fruits from hundreds of small plantations are trucked to a central mill where they are mixed up.
There are 19 firms in Singapore with RSPO certification, including instant-noodle maker Tat Hui Foods and consumer products company Proctor & Gamble. RSPO does not track products of its certified organisations but Mr Savi, who is based in RSPO's headquarters in Kuala Lumpur, reckons only a handful of products here have its mark.
The low take-up rate could be due to several reasons, he said. Palm oil typically makes up a small part of the formulation of a product, so few firms think it necessary to use sustainable supplies. Distributors who want to sell RSPO-certified products also need to get supplies from RSPO-certified mills and growers.
"Also, in certain markets, palm oil is not perceived positively, so companies won't want to emphasise that palm oil is in their products at all," he added.
About a fifth of the world's palm oil is now certified by RSPO.
The Singapore Environment Council (SEC), which has awarded its green label to over 3,000 products here, does not certify palm oil-based products here, but plans to do so by early next year.
"Not many firms here have RSPO certification, so we are looking to move into that sector because palm oil is used in so many products," said SEC head of eco-certification Kavickumar Muruganathan.
Mr Kim Stengert, World Wide Fund for Nature Singapore director of communications, said a range of certified sustainable palm oil products is not yet available here.
"At this stage, if all the non-certified palm oil products were taken off the shelves, we would have very empty supermarkets," he said.
"Consumers need to be able to express their preference for sustainable palm oil through their purchasing decisions."
SPH: Newsprint not from firms under probe for fires
The Straits Times, 9 Oct 2015
In response to media queries, Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) confirmed yesterday that it does not purchase any of its newsprint supplies from the five companies under probe for links to the forest fires in Indonesia.
Late last month, the National Environment Agency began legal action against Singapore-based firm Asia Pulp and Paper and four Indonesian companies it believes to be behind the burning.
The haze from forest fires in Kalimantan and Sumatra spread as far as Thailand after blanketing the skies and affecting the air quality in parts of Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines in recent weeks.
SPH said it purchases its newsprint supplies for its newspapers from diversified sources in Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific.
Said Mr Alan Chan, chief executive officer of SPH: "A very high percentage - some 80 per cent - of the newsprint is derived from recycled paper.
"Only the remaining 20 per cent is from virgin pulp and this comes from certified sustainable sources. None of the virgin pulp is sourced from Indonesia."
The certifications include the Forest Stewardship Council certification, Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification, ISO 14001, certification by the South Korean Board of National Technology and Quality and the EU Ecolabel.
SPH said that as a leading media organisation in South-east Asia and a responsible corporate citizen, it strongly supports sustainability and aims to remain at the forefront of corporate social responsibility.