Sustainability Executives from Kimberly-Clark and IKEA to Lead First-ever Tissue Sustainability Summit

NEW YORK, Nov. 6, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

At Tissue World Miami 2014 (March 18-21) two former VPs of Sustainability, Suhas Apte from Kimberly-Clark and Thomas Bergmark from IKEA, will facilitate insightful discussion about the environmental impact of tissue paper products.

(Photo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/2013/11/06/20131106152705789007.html)
(Logo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/2010/04/19/20100419602891.jpg)

How Sustainable Are Your Tissue Paper Products?

Five years ago Suhas Apte and Thomas Bergmark were, unbeknownst to each other, on opposite sides of a forest/wood fiber conflict that Greenpeace had catalyzed by attacking Kimberly-Clark's Kleenex brand for what it called destruction of old growth forests.

Both have served as Vice Presidents of Sustainability, Thomas at IKEA and Suhas at K-C. During the conflict that went from 2005 to 2009 Greenpeace came to IKEA and explained their concerns. IKEA, with its top-notch environmental profile, stopped buying K-C products for several years after explaining what it expected and promising to restart K-C business when the expectations were fulfilled. Suhas came in to his role around 2009 and since then K-C and Greenpeace have been "in love". And IKEA restarted buying from K-C thanks to the collaboration it established with Greenpeace. Go figure.

Now both gentlemen, who until now have never met, are in different roles as sustainability advisors to various groups. There are perhaps no two more-appropriate people on Earth that could be chosen to lead the first-ever Tissue Sustainability Summit. The venue is Miami Beach Convention Center on March 20, 2014 at Tissue World 2014.

Environmental Sustainability issues are rapidly rising on the radar screen for consumers and NGOs, as well as retailers, distributors and manufacturers. The fact is that tissue products are mostly responsibly produced, but the raw material inputs can sometimes be controversial. This includes wood fibers that possibly come from endangered forests, energy that generates CO2 emissions, and water which is often a scarce resource.

How sustainable are tissue paper products? Which companies are leading, which following? What are the greenest retailers doing in the tissue category today? What can be done to improve both sustainability and profitability?

This Summit with opinion leaders at retailers, manufacturers, Greenpeace, WWF and others, will offer deep insight into both the threats and opportunities that sustainability entails, led by experts with lengthy experience from two of the world's branding and sustainability leaders, Kimberly-Clark and IKEA.

To learn more or register go to tissueworld.com or email ivan.ferrari@ubm.com.

Contact Person: Ivan Ferrari
Phone Number: +65-6592-0886
Email: Ivan.Ferrari@ubm.com