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  • 2011 Calendar - available now

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    Australian Paper (owned by Nippon Paper)

    A key sticking point to stopping logging in the Melbourne catchments is the Forests (Wood Pulp Agreement) Act 1996.

    Under Section 14(2) of the Act, the Victorian Government is required to supply at least 300,000 cubic metres of woodchips per annum for Australian Paper’s Latrobe Valley pulp mill until 2030.

    The Act defines a “Forest Area”, shown within the thick line on a map shown below, as the area where these woodchips must be sourced. This “Forest Area” s includes almost all of the Melbourne State Forest catchments  highlighted in blue.

    Forests (Wood Pulp Agreement) Act 1996

    Native forest woodchips at Maryvale pulpmill

    Woodchips at Australian Paper Maryvale pulp and paper mill.

    An average woodchip volume of 130,000 cubic metres each year has been taken from the Melbourne State Forest water catchments over the six years to 2004-2005. This rate is currently projected to continue until the year 2030*.

    *Source: MBAC Consulting: DSE Timber Substitution Study: Appendix 5 Sept 2007, page 40.

    The community can stop native forests from Melbourne’s Water catchments being used to make Reflex brand paper products.
    A ream of Reflex paper in a clearfell logged and burnt area within the Melbourne domestic water supply catchment at McMahons creek

    A ream of Reflex paper in a clearfell logged and burnt area, Melbourne domestic water supply catchment at McMahons creek 2007 (note: Reflex pack was placed on stump).

    The community can put commercial pressure on Australian Paper to give up the contractual native forest woodchipping arrangement under the Forests (Wood Pulp Agreement) Act 1996. This can be done through a consumer awareness campaign focused on alternative products to the Reflex “native forest virgin fiber” brands manufactured by Australian Paper.

    1. The Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability has produced a Choosing Recycled Paper Guide** to promote paper products  that have a high recycled fiber component. This is an excellent flier as it provides a breakup of the paper content for consumers to consider. 
      (      ** Note on page 4 lists some Australian Paper products, which are marginally better than the standard Reflex brands.  However if they are from an RFA area, they still use some native forests that was probably sourced from the Melbourne water supply catchments.)
    2. The Victorian peak conservation groups have also put together an alternative recycled paper buying guide.

    Consumer awareness works. In the Otways forests of South Western Victoria, community groups across Australia were successful in getting the multi-national company Kimberly Clark,the manufacture of Kleenex tissues, to stop sourcing woodchip logs from the Otway forests. This occurred back in 1998 after a two year campaign.
    See http://www.oren.org.au/campaign/kleenex.html