More than 3,000 companies asked to sign 'haze-free' declaration

So far, only 38 firms have joined the signing campaign declaring they do not procure wood, paper or pulp materials from the six companies accused of causing the forest fires in Indonesia.

By Imelda Saad, Channel NewsAsia 12 Oct 15;

SINGAPORE: The Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and Consumers Association of Singapore (CASE) have said that they are keeping up the pressure on firms to go green: They have asked more than 3,000 companies to declare that they procure wood, paper and pulp material only from sustainable sources.

In a joint statement on Monday (Oct 12), the two bodies said that printing companies, as well as manufacturers and distributors of recycled material have also been asked to make a similar declaration.

However, only 38 companies have joined the signing campaign so far. Out of these, 10 -including Canon Singapore and Fuji Xerox Singapore - have already signed the declaration the week before. The list will be updated on both the SEC-SGLS’s (http://www.sgls.sec.org.sg/) and CASE’s (http://www.case.org.sg/) websites.

As the haze pollution persists in the region, Singapore's advocacy groups are urging consumers to review the list and not support the six Indonesian companies named by the National Environment Agency to have behaved irresponsibly and contributed to the haze problem.

Several retailers have removed products related to Asia Pulp and Paper Group, after its Singapore Green label was temporarily restricted. APP is one of the companies being investigated by the Singapore government.

- CNA/hs