KIMBERLY LIM Today Online 30 May 19;
SINGAPORE — Asia Pulp & Paper Group (APP) could see its products sold at major supermarkets again, almost four years after they were pulled from shelves due to the company’s alleged links to the forest fires that caused a massive haze in 2015.
The APP said in a press release on Wednesday (May 29) that it received the Enhanced Singapore Green Label Scheme certification from the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) on May 16 as a result of its efforts in tackling the haze threat.
The council said that APP is among nine companies that received the certification, having complied with the requirements of its audit and risk management framework certification.
It was the council and the Consumers Association of Singapore that urged major retailers such as NTUC FairPrice and Sheng Siong to yank products from suppliers with links to firms that could be partly responsible for causing the 2015 haze.
In its statement, APP said that it has since intensified its battle against the threat of fire and haze.
Its spokesperson told TODAY: “APP continues to be engaged in discussion with all major retailers in Singapore. These retailers have expressed confidence in the SEC's Green Labelling Scheme and the award of the Enhanced Green Label to APP allows us to engage with these retailers again.”
TODAY has reached out to retailers such as NTUC FairPrice, Sheng Siong and Dairy Farm International for further comment.
The APP spokesperson said that the company had to comply with a “25-point audit criteria”, including a zero-burning policy.
APP suppliers were audited by a team appointed by SEC, consisting of inspectors, auditors and sustainability experts, between December 2017 and March last year.
The process includes a full disclosure of the company’s supply chain and ensuring that suppliers are not engaged in burning.
Mr Bernard Tan, country president for Singapore at Sinar Mas, the Indonesia-based conglomerate that owns APP, said that the company has invested heavily in sustainability and fire prevention to ensure that its supply chain is responsibly managed.
He added: “With climate change causing dry seasons to become hotter and longer, fire and haze remain a real threat and requires a multi-stakeholder cooperative effort to overcome, and APP has upped its game in such efforts, building on the lessons learned from the 2015 haze.”
Asia Pulp & Paper, once linked to haze, set to return to shelves after getting green certification
Tee Zhuo Straits Times 29 May 19;
SINGAPORE - The Singapore Environment Council (SEC) has awarded Asia Pulp and Paper (APP), a company linked to previous bouts of haze in the region, a green certification that may see its products return to shelves here.
The enhanced Singapore green label scheme certification endorses products made in an environmentally responsible manner, using 25 audit criteria that includes a zero-burning policy.
In a statement on Wednesday (May 29), the firm owned by Indonesia's Sinar Mas said the certificate is "a testament to the company's intensified commitment to battle the threat of fire and haze since the 2015 haze that affected Singapore, Malaysia and parts of Indonesia".
APP said that between December 2017 and March last year, its suppliers were audited by a team of SEC inspectors, and auditors and sustainability experts appointed by the council.
This involved full disclosure of APP's supply chain and ensuring that all wood pulp used to make its products were sourced from plantations, as well as ensuring that suppliers were not engaged in burning, and had implemented strict processes for fire and peatland management.
Mr Bernard Tan, Singapore country president at Sinar Mas, said that APP had invested heavily in sustainability and fire prevention.
"With climate change causing dry seasons to become hotter and longer, fire and haze remain a real threat and requires a multi-stakeholder cooperative effort to overcome," he said.
APP was one of the firms slammed for the record-breaking haze in the region in 2015.
In September that year, the National Environment Agency listed APP as one of the firms it was investigating under the Transboundary Haze Pollution Act for links to regional forest fires that led to the haze.
Major supermarket chains here withdrew all APP products, including its popular Paseo brand of toilet rolls.
Following the crisis, APP beefed up its fire suppression strategies, and reaffirmed its commitment to the zero-deforestation pledge it made in 2013.
Last May, environmental group Greenpeace cut ties with APP after five years over allegations that the firm was still linked to the destruction of forests for
