BANGKOK – Pharmaceutical giant Haleon said it has dropped a supplier of “carbon-neutral” packaging after an AFP and The Gecko Project investigation on April 22 revealed links to the clearing of Indonesian rainforest that is home to critically endangered orangutans.
The investigation found wood from plantations that cut down tens of thousands of hectares of forest was processed at an Indonesian mill supplying packaging firm Asia Symbol.
It supplied Britain-based Haleon – known for household brands such as Panadol, Sensodyne and Centrum vitamins – with “carbon-neutral” packaging for its China operations.
AFP and investigative newsroom The Gecko Project used satellite imagery, government audit documents, trade data, ship-tracking information and open source material to trace timber from plantations in Indonesia to Asia Symbol factories in China.
Asia Symbol said it had placed the mill supplying the pulp under “enhanced due diligence”, but insisted the material used for packaging supplied to Haleon did not come from plantations linked to deforestation.
