Kimberly-Clark company that is known for its popular brands like Kleenex, Scott, and Cottonelle has released a new environmental fibre policy to help conserve forests and support sustainable forestry and use more recycled fibre. This announcement closes the Kleercut campaign started by Greenpeace five years ago, to help protect ancient forests in Canada and globally applied pressure on the company via the marketplace and its large customers and consumers.

Kimberly-Clark has set a goal of obtaining 100 percent of the wood fibre used in its products - including the flagship brand Kleenex - from environmentally responsible sources. By 2011, Kimberly-Clark will ensure that 40 percent of its North American fiber is either recycled or certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) - a 71 percent increase from 2007 levels, representing over 600,000 tonnes of fibre. Also by 2011, it will eliminate any fiber from the North American Boreal Forest that is not FSC-certified.

Because of K-C's place in the paper products market, the company's new policy will send a strong signal to its competitors, Procter & Gamble, SCA, and Georgia Pacific, that creating a policy that protects ancient forests is a key element of sustainable business.

The Canadian Boreal Forest is North America's largest ancient forest and provides habitat to threatened species such as woodland caribou, bald and golden eagles, wolverine and more than one billion birds, many of them migratory. Sadly, more than 60 percent of the Boreal has already been allocated to forestry companies for development and less than 10 percent of the Boreal Forest is formally protected. Unfortunately, in provinces such as Ontario and Quebec, much of the commercial forest has already been fragmented and degraded by clearcuts and logging roads.