Victoria's Secret Catalogue goes Green
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 12. 6.06
Limited Brands, owners of Victoria's Secret, have long been under attack by environmentalists for printing millions of catalogues on paper made by clearcutting Canada's boreal forests. (earlier post here) Now they are dumping Canadian source West Fraser Timber and will print on paper made from FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) certified fibre. 360 million catalogues will now be made from paper that does come from caribou habitat and "does not contribute to the demise of endangered species." ForestEthics hammered out the agreement, terms below the fold. ::CBC.ca and ::Yahoo
- Limited Brands will partner with its primary paper supplier to
eliminate all pulp supplied from the Boreal Forest (Alberta's Rocky
Mountain Foothills) and British Columbia (Inland Temperate Rainforest).
- Shifting its catalogs to either 10% PCW or at least 10% Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC) content during 2007.
- A preference for FSC certification, the only credible certification for
sustainable logging. Limited Brands has partnered with one of its
principal suppliers to shift four of its mills to FSC.
- Overall catalog paper reduction.
- A commitment to continual improvement on environmental attributes of
catalog paper and paper use. Progress will be audited by an independent
third party and made public.
- A commitment to phase out of Endangered Forests.
- One million dollars committed to research and advocacy to protect
Endangered Forests and ensure leadership in the catalog industry.
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why not recycled? and only 10% FSC certified fibers?
Greenwashing much?
Ya. Not so green.
"terms below the fold"
I love it when you talk dirty, Lloyd :)
Why does the woman in the photo look so... er, "milf-y"?
I thought greenwashing too when I saw the 10% FSC... but maybe we should be thinking "baby steps" instead of greenwashing.
And I got a kick out of the comment about Lloyd talking dirty. Thanks.
Umm - the 10% is one of the "baby steps" and not the only baby step ie the million dollars for research and advocacy and working in partnership with a supplier to shift four mills to FSC are quite nice too.
Limited Brands have also commited to
"continual improvement on environmental attributes of
catalog paper and paper use. Progress will be audited by an independent
third party and made public."
Perhaps we should give them a bit of time before we call greenwashing on this initiative.
Umm - the 10% is one of the "baby steps" and not the only baby step ie the million dollars for research and advocacy and working in partnership with a supplier to shift four mills to FSC are quite nice too.
Limited Brands have also commited to
"continual improvement on environmental attributes of
catalog paper and paper use. Progress will be audited by an independent
third party and made public."
Perhaps we should give them a bit of time before we call greenwashing on this initiative.
Next step stop sending catalogues and stop selling customer names to other retailers
Sounds like perfectly decent baby steps to me. Let's wait and see what they'll be doing next.
I laugh every time I see this, and yes, I realize this is an old ad and an old issue... so perhaps citizens of the tree-hugging LEED based world have pulled their heads out of the collective greenwashed asshole of hypocrasy.
I doubt it though.
Its "funny" that forests certified by more stringent CSA and SFI standards, because they havent been adopted by LEED are still refuted as being sustainable standards practices. I suppose if we all support US forestry companies instead of the evil Canadian ones, we'd be doing the environment a favour... I just dont know if our pockets are deep enough to support the initiative - FSC, like other certification processes associated wth the USGBC, though good in principle, have one underlying interest in mind: finding creative ways to support the industry organizations that helped to fund and develop the original LEED initiative. Lets face it, FSC and LEED have become little more than creative cash grabs and marketing ploys.
Perhaps one day people will gain enough personal conviction to start looking at the methodology of SFI and CSA standards, realize the potential inherent in non-biased third party certification, and switch to a measure of building certification based on LCA's (perhaps the Athena model?) and not on nationalistic greenwashed bullshit.
One can only dream.