Officeworks Lismore: a Bulletin
On Saturday I drove 72 kms. round-trip to my local Officeworks store in Lismore, NSW in the vain hope that they might have stopped stocking Reflex paper. I signed the pledge and the petition (with 11,000 others!) months ago and so far my boycott has meant that I have taken my business to others.
But operating a small business in a tiny village means I am reliant on some companies. And Officeworks until recently has been one of them.
Why is this boycott important?
Officeworks buys paper that is made from native forest timber. Simple as that! is well aware of the environmental costs of native forest logging – and that ready alternatives exist – but they continue to support this by stocking the Reflex range. They do this despite their own Corporate Social Responsibility policy, which states that Our goal is to fully integrate environmental responsibility into every facet of our operations by select[ing] better products for the environment.
Hmmm.
Greenwash? I wonder?
With the Wilderness Society, I believe that it is well past time for Officeworks to start taking their own policies seriously and to refuse to stock Reflex Paper until its producer, Australian Paper, no longer sources wood fibre from the logging of native forests.
So this matter was in my mind when I went into the store.
I was told by an embarrassed young man (who told me that he had to pay his mortgage and feed his dogs and therefore could not speak out against a policy he clearly did not agree with) that the stock of Reflex paper was new and that they were still stocking it.
So I asked to speak to the Duty Manager.
I think that Richard, who arrived after some time, had probably had enough of North Coast activists by the time I arrived.
But if he traced my stationery purchases over the past ten years, he’d see that not listening is not going to be good for business.
“Officeworks: Clean up your act” National Day of Action, 13 September 2011
Hopefully the day of action tomorrow (www.ethicalpaper.com.au) will help him see the error of his ways. Richard has no point of view. native forests from becoming copy paper.
To give Officeworks the extra motivation it needs to continue its role as a leader in paper retailing, the Wilderness Society, in partnership with environment groups across the country, are holding a National Day of Action to name and shame Reflex and Officeworks for their hand in forest destruction in Australia.
On the morning of 13 September, stores across the nation will be visited by troops of “janitors” telling Officeworks to clean up its act! Armed with vacuums, dustpans, sponges, and rubber gloves, volunteers will descend on Officeworks, scrubbing Reflex from their shelves. On the day, the TWS aim is to show Australian Paper and Officeworks that Australians will not stand for our precious forests being turned into office paper.
The “Company Man”
As I looked into Richard’s face, his cold eyes and unsmiling, trembling lips and listened to his hard `company’ line, I was reminded of a comic character, Twimble, “The Company Man” in a movie of my young adulthood: How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (1961):
Twimble: I play it the company way;
Wherever the company puts me
There I stay.
Finch: But what is your point of view?
Twimble: I have no point of view.
Finch: Supposing the company thinks . . .
Twimble: I think so too.
Finch: Now, what would you say . . .?
Twimble: I wouldn’t say.
Finch: Your face is a company face.
Twimble: It smiles at executives
Then goes back in place. “¦
Finch: So you play it the company way?
Twimble: All company policy is by me OK.
“¦
Whoever the company fires,
I will still be here.
Finch: You will still be here.
Both: Year after year after fiscal,
Never take a risk-al year!
Shame, Richard. You can do better than that: But what is your point of view? I have no point of view.
Officeworks has already shown us they are willing to take action in this important issue when it comes to paper from overseas. Now is the time for Officeworks to keep this high standard they have set for themselves and suspend the sale of Reflex paper while it is made from the critically endangered Leadbeater’s Possum Habitat.
Day of Action!
If you believe that in this International Year of the Forests that it is simply unacceptable to woodchip and sell our native forests as Reflex paper, please join us.
To RSVP and for more action details please contact TWS Community Campaigner, Tri�r Murphy, on 0433010390 or by email [email protected]
For more information
https://www.wilderness.org.au/campaigns/forests/officeworks-clean-up-your-act
Do you need to buy office copy paper and do you also care about Australia’s forests?
Don’t buy any Reflex copy paper and don’t buy any copy paper from Officeworks.
Buy these copy paper brands (recommended by the Wilderness Society):
- Evolve
- Vision
- Fuji Xerox Recycled
And try, as a supplier, EcoOffice (great Australian-owned company who does care about Australia’s native forests)