The White Company and Canopy partner to eliminate endangered forest fibers from packaging
Key takeaways
- The White Company has partnered with Canopy to eliminate ancient and endangered forest fibers from its packaging supply chain.
- Canopy is supporting the retailer in identifying alternatives, including recycled paper and agricultural fibers such as wheat straw, bagasse, hemp, miscanthus, and bamboo.
- Canopy says a stronger, coordinated brand demand could unlock investment in agrifiber pulping capacity.
The White Company, a UK-based retailer for homeware, clothing, and fragrances, has joined forces with Canopy, an NGO dedicated to protecting forests, species, and climate, to keep ancient and endangered forests out of packaging supply chains.
Through this partnership, The White Company aims to accelerate its transition toward more sustainable and innovative fibers in its products and packaging.
Valerie Langer, strategic lead for Next Generation Solutions at Canopy, tells Packaging Insights: “We help companies to identify if they have ancient and endangered forest fiber in their packaging supply chain and provide support to identify alternatives.”
“This includes identifying lower impact options that are available now, for example, using Canopy’s EcoPaper Database, the world’s largest repository of information on eco-paper products. We also help companies to leverage their procurement power to get better options into their near future supply.”
“Suppliers listen when hundreds and thousands of brands strategically signal their desire for next-generation alternatives such as corrugate or paperboard boxes made with a percentage of agricultural fiber pulp (for example, wheat straw and sugar cane bagasse) instead of tree pulp.”
Scaling biodiversity-friendly alternatives
Langer shares that approximately 9–10 million metric tons of paper are currently produced using agricultural fibers, including wheat, flax, rice straw left over after food harvests, and dedicated fiber crops such as hemp, miscanthus, and bamboo.
“Production of these alternatives could scale more than five times if investment were to flow into retrofitting older mills or building new mills with available clean agrifiber pulping tech,” she adds.
“The key is to have a few leaders in the field test and promote a few common products made with agrifibre alternatives, and for brands with environmental targets to commit to integrating it into a portion of their packaging portfolio. Canopy builds multi-brand strategies to achieve this.”
Langer highlights that clear and consistent demand across packaging supply chains can encourage investment in lower-carbon, biodiversity-friendly paper made from alternatives to trees, alongside greater use of recycled paper.
Previously, SIG and WWF announced their third joint forest conservation project, focusing on key forest landscapes in Thailand. The wood fibers from responsibly managed forests were essential for producing SIG’s carton packs. The company said that it has sourced exclusively FSC-certified paperboard since 2021.
Regulations, technological innovations, and consumer preferences have been propelling the fiber-based packaging industry, as the sector reduces the environmental impact of water loss.
According to experts, agro-residues such as wheat stalk, barley stalk, bagasse, and hemp could offer a lower-impact alternative. These waste-based fibers could be used for papermaking and molded packaging while requiring 70–99% less processing water than wood pulp.
