Mattel, the producer of Barbie, announced its new sustainable sourcing principles that manage the company’s procurement of paper and wood fiber used in its packaging and products. 

Photo: tweatpeak.com

After a scandal raised by Greenpeace in June, accusing Barbie of being a serial killer, because she had destroyed rainforest in her toy packaging and causing ‘the broke up of Barbie and Ken’, Mattel changed its politics. Due to the Greenpeace’s campaign and thousands of people from over the world e-mailing Mattel and posting to the Barbie’s Facebook page, Mattel stopped using products from Asia Pulp and Paper (APP). This pulp and paper company is notorious for destroying Indonesian rainforests, including the habitat of the endangered Sumatran tiger.

Mattel’s new principles focus on three fundamental steps to advance sustainability which are:

• maximizing post-consumer recycled content, where possible;
• avoiding virgin fiber from controversial sources;
• seeking to increase the percentage of fiber that is certified by a credible third party.

“We are committed to advancing the use of sustainably sourced paper and wood fiber across our business, beginning with packaging,” said Lisa Marie Bongiovanni, vice president corporate affairs at Mattel, who also oversees the company’s sustainability initiatives. “In developing these sourcing principles and setting goals, we applied a thoughtful and rigorous approach in evaluating our supply chain and identifying meaningful opportunities for continuous improvement.”

According to Mattel, it has already launched efforts to implement the new principles and established aggressive goals to measure progress on packaging as the focus of the company’s initial implementation phase.

By the end of 2011, 70 percent of Mattel’s paper packaging to be composed of recycled material or sustainable fiber. And by year-end 2015, goal increases to 85 percent. Mattel will show preference, when feasible, for fiber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.

Progress will be reported through the company’s Global Citizenship Reports. Mattel’s fourth report is expected in mid-2012.