Responding to a campaign by Greenpeace, toy giant Mattel, maker of the famed Barbie doll line, announced that it will stop buying paper and packaging that the environmental group has linked to rain forest destruction in Indonesia.
The El Segundo company said it will tell suppliers to avoid wood fiber from companies "that are known to be involved in deforestation." Among those companies, Greenpeace said in a statement, is Asia Pulp & Paper (APP) group.
"The rain forests of Indonesia should be for species like the Sumatran tiger, not for throwaway toy packaging," Bustar Maitar, head of Greenpeace's campaign to save the forests in Indonesia, said in the statement "That's why it is such good news that Mattel has developed a new paper buying policy."
The group urged Asia Pulp & Paper to follow in the path of its sister company, Golden Agri-Resources, which "has already committed to clean up its act and has won back lucrative contracts."
Greenpeace has pledged to push other companies, such as Disney and Hasbro, to take similar action to protect rain forests.
