Protect the trees for a greener future

Forests are just like the lungs of the mother Earth. Only when the lungs are healthy can the earth generate more fresh air for all lives to thrive.

For the fifth consecutive year, Kimberly-Clark Taiwan employees geared up to volunteer at a national forest conservation activity organized by the National Forestry Bureau of Taiwan. The activity aims to raise public awareness in protecting forests to keep the country’s primitive forests thriving. More than 80 Kimberly-Clark employees and their family members, ages ranging from 8 to 80, spent the first weekend of September removing invasive weeds called “mile-a-minute”, the top threat to Taiwan’s native forest ecosystem.

According to the Forest Bureau, the “mile-a-minute” weeds, also known as “forest killers”, arrived in Taiwan around a decade ago and today pose a serious threat to Taiwan’s forests. The most effective way to control its growth is to manually uproot the weeds before they blossom in early autumn. Each year, during the first weekend of September, the Forest Bureau calls for public participation to remove these harmful weeds. Since 2012, Kimberly-Clark has provided strong support for this initiative with a team of volunteers who have become the largest working group at the event.

Volunteers from Taiwan Mill spent the first weekend of September removing invasive weeds from the forests.

“I am so proud of being a part of this meaningful event and contributing my little effort to save the precious forests,” said Robin Chen, Mill Manager of Kimberly-Clark Taiwan, who signed up for this event with another nine employees from TaYuan Mill. Kelly Yang, Corporate Communications and Sustainability Manger for Kimberly-Clark Taiwan, said “It is rewarding to see more and more employees showing their support for this green initiative, which has become one of the most popular events among our employees. When we first announced the event and started calling for volunteers this August, all the slots were filled up within two days, much sooner than expected.”

Supporting sustainable forestry practices and reducing our footprint on natural forests are among the core objectives in Kimberly-Clark’s Sustainability 2022 Goals. In 2009, Kleenex in Taiwan introduced the first tissue product with Forest Stewardship Council certification, the world’s most widely recognized sustainable forestry certification. In 2011, Kleenex became the first and only tissue brand in Taiwan to receive FSC certification for its full product portfolio.

In addition to the annual volunteer campaign, Kimberly-Clark Taiwan has partnered with the Chinese Society for Environmental Education (CSEE), a renowned local non-profit organization, to design the Green Up for a Better Future forest conservation learning program for fifthandsixth graders. Since 2014, more than 4,000 kids have enrolled in the program and learnt about the critical relationship between forests and human beings.