Staples Fires Paper Supplier with Questionable Green Track Record

OAKLAND, Calif. — Staples Inc. reportedly canceled all contracts with a Singapore-based paper company because of concerns over its deforestation practices.

Until late last month, Asia Pulp and Paper (APP) supplied Staples with between 5 and 9 percent of its total paper supply. According to Reuters, Staples stopped doing business with APP because there was no indication the company was making progress in protecting the environment.

Other companies in the U.S., Europe and Asia also have severed business relations with APP, the Wall Street Journal reported. Remaining an APP customer was "at great peril to our brand," Mark Buckley, Staples' vice president of environmental issues, told the Wall Street Journal.

"We decided engagement was not possible anymore," Buckley told the Journal. "We haven't seen any indication that APP has been making any positive strides" to protect the environment.

Greenpeace has accused APP, one of the world's largest paper companies, of illegal logging in Chinese forests. APP had also been accused of illegal logging in Indonesia, which APP denied.