Staples

• Staples joins a long line of corporations that have caved in to NGO ‘greenmailing’, putting their interests ahead of the poor and hungry that work to provide low cost goods and to bring food to their tables.
• In Greenpeace’s report, “How Sinar Mas is Pulping the Planet”, the NGO cites Staples as an unwitting supporter of rainforest destruction, despite the group’s failure to fully support their claims. As a result, entire communities will see their livelihoods destroyed.
• Though Indonesian and Chinese producers have engaged independent auditors to assess Greenpeace’s claims, Staples caved in to the group’s PR attack, rather than wait for their claims to be verified. This is standard practice among victims of ‘greenmail’, who feel that immediately succumbing to pressure is preferable to finding out the truth.
• This is not the first time Staples has encountered pressure from environmental NGOs. Greenpeace also campaigned to have Staples only source recycled paper by making unsubstantiated claims accusing the company of destroying US forests. There was little to none scientific evidence to support this, but Staples gave in regardless.
• Staples cancelled all its contracts with Indonesian and Chinese producers, alleging that they had not seen any “improvement” in their actions, despite the fact that they were entirely illegal. As a result, they cancelled their contracts with the producers, claiming that doing otherwise would be "at great peril to our brand”. This was the result of Greenpeace’s consistent use of inflammatory and unsubstantiated allegations in their reports.

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