The movement to save the world’s Ancient and Endangered Forests from ending up as take-out containers, shoe boxes, or other paper packaging just got kicked up a notch. Twenty-nine new brands ranging from footwear, to food and beverage, to beauty brands, and fashion companies, have committed to Pack4Good and will eliminate controversial forest fibre from their packaging while speeding the uptake of Next Gen Solutions for packaging made from things like agricultural residues instead. The Pack4Good initiative now comprises 156 brands, worth over $78.5 billion USD in revenue.

Roughly three billion trees are cut down every year for paper packaging. That is 95 trees every second, over 5,000 every minute, over eight million every day, many from the world’s most integral forests. That’s a massive number of trees going into packaging that is often thrown out in seconds, resulting in major impacts to climate, biodiversity, and human health.

“UGG is proud to partner with Canopy, championing the continued importance of protecting the world’s forests to ensure a healthy planet, and a healthy future for the generations that follow us,” said Andrea O’Donnell, President, UGG® & Koolaburra by UGG® at Deckers Brands. “With this partnership, we are vowing to further our commitment to sustainable practices across forest related sourcing, taking steps to protect our endangered forests.”

The Pack4Good initiative is the brainchild of international environmental organization Canopy. The initiative, just over eighteen months old, is geared to working with some of the largest industry players in the fashion, food and beverage, and beauty and care industries to save forests and speed the uptake of Next Gen Solutions that use agricultural residue to make paper packaging.

“The companies that are joining Pack4Good are the out of the box thinkers we need – leaders ready to transform paper packaging supply chains and scale up solutions to save forests and our climate,” stated Nicole Rycroft, Executive Director of Canopy. “We have so many solutions just waiting to be implemented, it’s time to take them from the margins to the mainstream. Today’s announcement will help us do just that.”

Pack4Good partners included in today’s announcement are committed to ensuring that, by the end of 2022, all their packaging is:

  • Free of Ancient and Endangered Forests.
  • Designed to reduce material use.
  • Maximizing recycled and alternative Next Generation fibres (such as agricultural residues).
  • Using FSC-certified wood when virgin forest fibre continues to be used.

Canopy launched the Pack4Good initiative in October 2019, and its partners include fashion brands, personal care brands, printers and telecommunication companies as well as Next Generation Solutions providers, with more sectors and companies expressing interest every day.

Canopy is also pleased to note that the fashion designers and retailers in this announcement have all signed on to the CanopyStyle initiative along with their Pack4Good commitments. These comprehensive forest sourcing policies will keep Ancient and Endangered Forests out of our wardrobes, as Canopy collaborates with these companies to shift the viscose supply chain toward more sustainable alternatives.