SPOKANE, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Clearwater Paper Corporation (NYSE:CLW) announced today that the
company will offer Forest Stewardship Council™ (FSC®) certified premium
and ultra-premium bath tissue, and ultra-premium paper towel products to
retail customers. The Rainforest Alliance's SmartWood Program performed
all certification audits to ensure conformance to the FSC standards. The
company shipped the first batch of these new FSC-certified ultra-premium
tissue products in early June.
"We are delighted with Clearwater Paper's commitment to sustainability,
which meets increasing consumer demand for tissue products from
sustainable sources," said Tensie Whelan, president of the Rainforest
Alliance. "Clearwater Paper has set an example through the certification
of its own products; a forward thinking accomplishment that other
innovative companies will follow."
In June 2010, Clearwater Paper began offering FSC-certified facial
tissue to retail grocery private label customers. Since then, the
company has applied the FSC logo and the Rainforest Alliance CertifiedTM
seal to millions of customer facial cartons, and currently supplies the
largest case volume of FSC-certified private label products to U.S.
retail chains.
"We are excited to further expand our customers' choices - giving them
more options to use quality tissue products from FSC-certified forests,"
said Gordon Jones, chairman, president and CEO of Clearwater Paper. "The
addition of these high-quality tissue products reinforces our position
as the leading U.S. tissue manufacturer to offer FSC certified tissue
products for retail sales."
Retailers now have a unique opportunity to feature this globally
recognized certification on their premium private label tissue products.
Certification allows retailers the ability to display the FSC logo and
the well-known Rainforest Alliance Certified frog seal on their premium
tissue products signifying strong environmental awareness for
manufacturers, retailers and consumers.
"The combination of certified premium and ultra-premium facial products
since June of last year, coupled with increases planned this year, means
that products certified by the Rainforest Alliance to FSC standards
represent more than 50 percent of Clearwater Paper's total retail
product case volume nationwide," stated Bob DeVleming, president of
Clearwater Paper's consumer products division. "That amount of product,
carrying both the FSC logo and the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal,
offers both organizations significant exposure to the end consumer — a
win-win situation for everyone involved."
FSC-certification indicates to consumers that the products they are
purchasing come from responsible, well-managed forests where forest
ecosystems are conserved and the rights of workers and their communities
are protected.
"Clearwater Paper has paved new roads for FSC in the retail grocery
private label arena," said Corey Brinkema, president of the Forest
Stewardship Council-U.S. "Thanks to Clearwater Paper, we now have
expanded impact and visibility in a market that is trending toward
environmentally and socially responsible products."
ABOUT FOREST STEWARDSHIP COUNCIL
An international nonprofit organization, the Forest Stewardship Council
was founded in 1993 to harness the power of the marketplace to encourage
environmentally sound, socially beneficial, and economically prosperous
management of the world's forests. FSC standards and third party forest
and forest products certification represent the world's strongest system
for guiding forest management toward sustainable outcomes. FSC is the
only forest certification program supported by the world's leading
environmental organizations. Its U.S. chapter, FSC-US, was established
to coordinate the development of a national forest management standard,
encourage the expansion of US forests managed under the FSC standard,
and provide public education about the importance and value of forest
stewardship. For more information, please see www.fscus.org
ABOUT THE RAINFOREST ALLIANCE
The Rainforest Alliance works with people whose livelihoods depend on
the land, helping them transform the way they grow food, harvest wood
and host travelers. From large multinational corporations to small,
community-based cooperatives, businesses and consumers worldwide are
involved in the Rainforest Alliance's efforts to bring responsibly
produced goods and services to a global marketplace where the demand for
sustainability is growing steadily. For more information, visit www.rainforest-alliance.org.
ABOUT CLEARWATER PAPER (FSC® C051250)
Clearwater Paper manufactures quality consumer tissue, away-from-home
tissue, hard roll tissue, machine glazed tissue, bleached paperboard,
pulp and wood products at 15 manufacturing locations in the U.S. and
Canada. The company is a premier supplier of private label tissue to
major retailers and wholesale distributors. This includes grocery, drug,
mass merchants and discount stores. The company also produces bleached
paperboard used by quality-conscious printers and packaging converters.
Clearwater Paper's more than 4,000 employees build shareholder value by
developing strong customer partnerships through quality and service.
For additional information on Clearwater Paper, please visit our Web
site at www.clearwaterpaper.com.
Inquiries about Clearwater Paper tissue products can be made to tissue@clearwaterpaper.com.
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within
the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 as
amended, including statements regarding the market for the company's
products, the availability of and plans for the company to offer certain
products, the amount of FSC products offered and the acceptance of the
company's products by customers and consumers. These forward-looking
statements are based on current expectations, estimates, assumptions and
projections that are subject to change, and actual results may differ
materially from the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially include, but are not limited to, the
supply of FSC certified wood fiber; the ability of the company and its
suppliers to remain FSC certified; changes in customer and consumer
preferences; changes in the United States and international economies;
changes in raw material and energy costs; cyclical industry conditions;
competitive pricing pressure for the company's products; changes in
freight costs and disruptions in transportation services; unanticipated
manufacturing disruptions; changes in general and industry-specific laws
and regulations; unforeseen environmental liabilities or expenditures;
labor disruptions; and other risks and uncertainties described from time
to time in the company's public filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. The forward-looking statements are made as of the date of
this press release and the company does not undertake to update any
forward-looking statements.
Clearwater Paper Corporation
Matt Van Vleet, 509-344-5912
Source: Clearwater Paper Corporation
News Provided by Acquire Media