The University of Vermont Forest Crimes Unit, a student activism group's, “kleercut” campaign won the bid obligating UVM to purchase 100 percent recycled toilet paper and green seal certified cleaning products from Vermont-based White River Paper Company beginning Oct. 1.
Flushing away problems
UVM had been purchasing Kimberly-Clark products which allegedly use virgin pulp from Canada’s old growth forests to make toilet paper, according to the Greenpeace Web site. Virgin pulp uses no recycled materials and kills more trees.
“I emailed President Fogel in 2006," says Basil Tsimoyianis, a UVM senior who led the campaign. "That was when he was first made aware of our toilet paper and its connections to the Boreal Forest and the kleercutting of it; and how it wasn’t in tune with UVM’s environmental values that we preach.”
No action was taken with the toilet paper for over a year. It was not until November 2007 when the Forest Crimes Unit was formed and began campaigning to replace the toilet paper.
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Sophomore Laura Davidson takes a seat against Kimberly-Clark during an event on April 24.
(Photo courtesy of Sarah Kearsley)
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For UVM, the switch is economically beneficial because it is less expensive. Switching to the White River Paper Company saves UVM just over $2 on every case of 12 rolls, says Leslye Kornegay, UVM director of custodial services.
“The toilet paper is the first real way to get sustainability into the contract,” says Gioia Thompson, the sustainability coordinator at UVM.
The killing of forests
Kimberly-Clark is the largest tissue maker in the world. Most of the pulp Kimberly-Clark uses for its disposable tissue products comes from unsustainable sources, including wood fiber from ancient forests like the Canadian Boreal, according to the Greenpeace Web site.
The products are only used once then thrown away or flushed down the toilet. Over 190 billion sheets of facial tissue is produced by Kimberly-Clark for consumers each year. The amount of virgin tree fiber used in 2004 was 3.3 million tons, according to the Greenpeace Web site.
“We will not knowingly use fiber from forest areas requiring protection, including primary tropical rainforests and high conservation value forests. The latter would include certain areas of Canada’s Boreal Forest,” says a the Kimberly-Clark sustainability memo on its Web site.
This is greenwash (false environmental promotion), to Connor Gibson, a UVM junior who worked on the campaign, becasue they do know about their questionable practices, but are denying them for public interest.
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Senior Andrew Danielsen holds out a Kleercut toilet paper roll during event on January 24, warning consumers the product is killing more trees than necessary.
(Photo courtesy of Basil Tsimoyianis) |
The White River Paper Company, is the leading distributor of food service disposables, janitorial, packaging, and office supplies in Vermont and New Hampshire, according to its Web site.
“If you care and voice your concerns, we can change it,” Tsimoyianis says about campaigning for somehting he strongly believes in.
Drop trou
Right after winter break on Jan. 24, 2008, the Forest Crimes Unit made its first statement with three stationary toilets and a fourth on wheels strategically placed around campus. Inside the toilet bowl tops, evergreen trees were sticking out and showing people that they were flushing down the ancient Boreal Forests, Tsimoyianis says.
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Junior Hillary Jane Archer petitioning outside the library by a toilet, representing the flushing of trees, on January 24.
(Photo courtesy of Basil Tsimoyianis) |
“We tried to set ourselves apart from other organizations,” says Chris Scheller, another campaign organizer.
“We came out in full force to really attack it,” Gibson says.
They got over six hundred signatures in a three hour period.
The group was meeting for at least two hours every week, carefully planning and researching what its next move was going to be, Scheller says.
“It was really great timing for the students; it happened that the contract for those services was up for being renewed. The students came in at the right time and the stars aligned,” Thompson says.
On April 24, the Forest Crimes Unit held its second action.
"We had to get toilets for our second event because it was called a ‘shit in,’" Gibson says. "Several students dropped trou and sat on toilets in the middle of campus and held up newspapers that said things like 'Kimberly Clark where have your values gone' and 'do you give a shit?' Really simple stuff but no one could walk by a person sitting on a toilet with a newspaper."
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Student activists display banner calling for student action during pilot testing of products during event on April 24.
(Photo courtesy of Sarah Kearsley) |
A big shock for many people was a giant banner with the Dr. Seuss character the Lorax, saying “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
"It was a message people could relate to," Tsimoyianis says.
“Lots of people lose values instilled in them as children like to care about what is happening and like what’s going on.” Tsimoyianis says. “Then people grow up and forget the simplest of forms.”
Side Note: St. Michael’s already uses Green Seal certified toilet paper and cleaning products that are 100 percent made from recycled materials. |
