USW Paper Workers Challenge “Digital Only” Green Claims

The Association National Voluntary Forest Certification System, our member for Ukraine, is the latest national forest certification system to achieve PEFC endorsement. “The date 19 June 2021 has become a holiday for our organisation, the day our system was endorsed by PEFC,” said Mariya Maha, the National Secretary for the Association National Voluntary Forest Certification System. “It was a long, two-year path, with a lot of a challenges, but also with a lot of a small wins and the greatest thing is that we have made plenty of strong connections with all stakeholders.” After developing the national system in line with PEFC requirements, the Association submitted the system to PEFC for endorsement in 2020. The national system then underwent the PEFC assessment process, carried out by an independent PEFC Registered Assessor, as well as a public consultation.

The European Parliament has approved a ban on disposable plastic products, bringing the ban one step closer to reality. The ban would affect a wide range of products that have alternatives, such as straws and cutlery. The European Parliament has voted overwhelmingly in support of a wide-ranging ban on single-use plastics to counter pollution from the discarded items in waterways and fields. The Parliament backed the ban 560-35. EU member states have given their support but need to vote on the measure for it to go into effect. The ban would be implemented from 2021 and would affect a range of plastic products that have reasonable alternatives, such as plastic cutlery, foam takeout food containers, straws and drink stirrers. Click Read More below for additional detail.

Two Sides was recently flooded with complaints from around the world about unsubstantiated anti-paper environmental claims used by Dropbox, Inc. to encourage the use of its digital services. In an email distributed globally, the digital document management and storage company claimed that “Less Paper = More Trees,” using Dropbox is “more earth-friendly,” and that people can “do their part for the planet” and “secure the future of forests” by using Dropbox. With nearly 17 million paying customers and millions more who use its free service, Dropbox’s misleading claims are damaging consumer and business decision-maker perceptions of paper’s environmental sustainability and threatening the livelihoods of millions of people in the global paper, printing and mail sector. Two Sides wrote to the company’s CEO urging Dropbox to stop using these types of deceptive environmental claims about paper. Now, we’re asking our members to amplify the urgency of our request with letters of your own.