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Nestlé’s palm oil business partner Indofood is the worst of the worst when it comes to producing palm oil. The Indonesian giant has gotten away with rainforest destruction and worker abuse for too long.

This impunity could end soon!

The palm oil industry’s main certification body, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) could finally kick the rogue company off its certification scheme. The RSPO complaints panel meets next week, so we need to act fast.

This decision will be a crucial step in getting Nestlé to finally cut deforestation and abuse out of its supply chain.

Together, we can expose the RSPO’s greenwashing and put its reputation at risk so it doesn’t stick to business as usual and overlook Indofood’s gross violations.

Sign the petition to demand the RSPO suspends Nestlé’s business partner Indofood.

Owned by Indonesia’s richest man, Indofood has been exposed in multiple investigations for exploiting workers, paying poverty wages (and female workers even less), dangerous working conditions, and intimidating communities off their land for illegal deforestation.

It also ignores the RSPO’s guidelines on protecting precious orangutan habitat and is guilty of logging on carbon-rich peat land, intensifying climate chaos.

Nestlé is in on this game. The snack food giant co-brands products in the South Asian market, and profits from a lucrative Joint Venture Partnership with Indofood — cheating on its palm oil commitments.

Getting the industry’s main certification scheme to suspend Indofood could force Nestlé to take strong action against Indofood, or risk public backlash. A suspension would give us even more evidence to call for Nestlé to permanently cut ties with Indofood.

There’s very little time before Nestlé’s business partner gets its verdict.

Sign the petition to pressure the RSPO into suspending Indofood — NOW.

Together, we’ve forced some of the palm oil industry’s biggest players to change their destructive ways before. Last year a huge SumOfUs petition shone light on another one of Nestlé’s dodgy palm oil partners — REPSA in Guatemala. The exposure and media fall-out forced Nestlé to cut ties with the Guatemalan palm oil offender!

The RSPO often fails to enforce its own standards, but if we pile on the pressure it could be forced to sanction Indofood. Recently, the RSPO froze Nestlé’s membership for several weeks when it failed to comply with its rules.

The suspension was a blow to Nestlé’s public image, and zoos and retailers around the world refused to stock its products for the period. That’s why we want to send a strong message to the industry by getting Indofood suspended for good.

Sign the petition to demand the RSPO suspends Nestlé’s business partner Indofood.

 Sign the Petition 

Thanks for all that you do,
Rebecca, Fatah and the team at SumOfUs

https://actions.sumofus.org/pages/tell-rspo-to-sanction-nestle-and-pepsi-business-partner-indofood/?akid=45946.7697051.P5qKy4&rd=1&source=fwd&t=12

 

Additional Information.

 

In 2012, the annual revenue received by Indonesia and Malaysia together, the top two producers of palm oil, was $40 billion.^[36] Between 1962 and 1982 global exports of palm oil increased from around half a million to 2.4 million tonnes annually and in 2008 world production of palm oil and palm kernel oil amounted to 48 million tonnes. According to FAO forecasts by 2020 the global demand for palm oil will double, and triple by 2050.^[37

Indonesia

Main article: Palm oil production in Indonesia

Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of palm oil, surpassing Malaysia in 2006, producing more than 20.9 million tonnes.^[36][38] Indonesia expects to double production by the end of 2030.^[11] At the end of 2010, 60 percent of the output was exported in the form of crude palm oil.^[39] FAO data show production increased by over 400 percent between 1994 and 2004, to over 8.66 million metric tonnes.

Malaysia

Main article: Palm oil production in Malaysia

In 2012, Malaysia, the world’s second largest producer of palm oil,^[40] produced 18.79 million tonnes of crude palm oil on roughly 5,000,000 hectares (19,000 sq mi) of land.^[41][42] Though Indonesia produces more palm oil, Malaysia is the world’s largest exporter of palm oil having exported 18 million tonnes of palm oil products in 2011. China, Pakistan, the European Union, India and the United States are the primary importers of Malaysian palm oil products.^[43]

Nigeria

As of 2011, Nigeria was the third-largest producer, with approximately 2.3 million hectares (5.7×10^⁶ acres) under cultivation. Until 1934, Nigeria had been the world’s largest producer. Both small- and large-scale producers participated in the industry.^[44][45]

Thailand

Thailand is the world’s third largest producer of crude palm oil, producing approximately two million tonnes per year, or 1.2 percent of global output. Ninety-five percent of Thai production is consumed locally. Almost 85 percent of palm plantations and extraction mills are in south Thailand. At year-end 2016, 4.7 to 5.8 million rai were planted in oil palms, employing 300,000 farmers, mostly on small landholdings of 20 rai. ASEAN as a region accounts for 52.5 million tonnes of palm oil production, about 85 percent of the world total and more than 90 percent of global exports. Indonesia accounts for 52.2 percent of world exports. Malaysian exports total 37.9 percent. The biggest consumers of palm oil are India, the European Union, and China, with the three consuming nearly 50 percent of world exports. Thailand’s Department of Internal Trade (DIT) usually sets the price of crude palm oil and refined palm oil. Thai farmers have a relatively low yield compared to those in Malaysia and Indonesia. Thai palm oil crops yield 4–17 percent oil compared to around 20 percent in competing countries. In addition, Indonesian and Malaysian oil palm plantations are 10 times the size of Thai plantations.^[46]

Colombia

In the 1960s, about 18,000 hectares (69 sq mi) were planted with palm. Colombia has now become the largest palm oil producer in the Americas, and 35 percent of its product is exported as biofuel. In 2006, the Colombian plantation owners’ association, Fedepalma, reported that oil palm cultivation was expanding to 1,000,000 hectares (3,900 sq mi). This expansion is being funded, in part, by the United States Agency for International Development to resettle disarmed paramilitary members on arable land, and by the Colombian government, which proposes to expand land use for exportable cash crops to 7,000,000 hectares (27,000 sq mi) by 2020, including oil palms. Fedepalma states that its members are following sustainable guidelines.^[47]

Some Afro-Colombians claim that some of these new plantations have been expropriated from them after they had been driven away through poverty and civil war, while armed guards intimidate the remaining people to further depopulate the land, with coca production and trafficking following in their wake.

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-monsanto-cancer-lawsuit-bayer/roundup-cancer-verdict-sends-bayer-shares-sliding-idUSKBN1KY0M5

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Bayer (BAYGn.DE) shares plunged as much as 14 percent on Monday, losing about $14 billion in value, after newly acquired Monsanto was ordered to pay $289 million in damages in the first of possibly thousands of U.S. lawsuits over alleged links between a weedkiller and cancer.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-13/bayer-drops-after-monsanto-loses-verdict-in-roundup-cancer-trial

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/13/bayer-shares-down-after-monsanto-ordered-to-pay-damages.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bayer-shares-slump-after-289m-monsanto-roundup-verdict/

Marriott to Ditch Plastic Straws in All of Its Hotels

Last year, major hospitality company Marriott International pledged to commit to more environmentally friendly practices, with the ultimate goal of reducing landfill waste by 45 percent and responsibly sourcing its top 10 product purchase categories by 2025. Based on their decision last month to ditch plastic straws in all of its hotels by June of 2019, it seems like Marriott is well on its way to meeting that goal.

Marriott Joins Growing Number of Companies to Ban Straws

With more than 6,500 properties across 30 brands around the world, disposable plastic straws and stirrers easily add up. Marriott estimates that they currently go through about 1 billion plastic straws and a quarter billion stirrers each year.

“We are proud to be among the first large U.S. companies to announce that we’re eliminating plastic straws in our properties worldwide,” said Arne Sorenson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Marriott International.

In addition to Marriott International, Starbucks, Disney, Hyatt, American Airlines, and Royal Caribbean are among the few major companies to do away with plastic straws.

“Removing plastic straws is one of the simplest ways our guests can contribute to plastic reduction when staying with us – something they are increasingly concerned about and are already doing in their own homes,” Sorenson added. “We are committed to operating responsibly and – with over one million guests staying with us every night – we think this is a powerful step forward to reducing our reliance on plastics.”

Single-use Plastic Items Are Unnecessary and Harm Animals

The decision comes as people grow more aware of the problem that disposable plastic, including straws and stirrers, cause in the environment. On average, people only use a plastic straw for about 20 seconds before throwing it away. Although normally plastic can be recycled, unfortunately straws cannot. Small and thin, they fall through the conveyor belts at recycling plants. In the end, all straws end up in the garbage, going into the ground or slipping into waterways.

Plastic in the ocean and along beaches is not only an environmental concern, but a big problem for seaside hotels and resorts that thrive on tourism. This motivates both administrators and guests alike to cut out their use.

Plastic Use Pollutes and Threatens Oceans

“Our guests come to stay with us to enjoy Maui’s beautiful environment and incredible marine life, so they’re as eager as we are to reduce harmful pollution,” General Manager of Marriott International’s Sheraton Maui Resort & Spa Tetsuji Yamazaki explained. “By eliminating plastic straws, we have been able to create a substantive dialogue with our guests about the importance of protecting the ocean and endangered animals like the honu (green sea turtle).”

According to a 2014 study, there are 270,000 metric tons of plastic in the ocean, and the number is only growing. Although straws only make up a little over 7 percent of the plastic that ends up in the environment in general, because they are so unnecessary for most people, it’s a potentially easy way to help reduce plastic waste. If we don’t stop these wasteful habits, there will likely be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.

Right now, Americans alone toss out 500 million plastic straws each day, which won’t decompose for 450 to 1,000 years. By phasing out plastic straws, companies like Marriott International can make a big difference not just in ending single-plastic use, but also in raising awareness.

Cities and Countries Take Steps to Ban Single-Use Plastic

Even more importantly, many cities and states are taking the initiative to create laws limiting or banning single-plastic use items. Plastic straws only make up a small portion of the plastic that’s contaminating the environment, so targeting other items, like packaging material, fishnets, food containers, and plastic bags is even more important.

Several cities in California have already imposed bans, and the entire state is in the process of developing limitations. Just this year, Taiwan developed a plan to eliminate single-use plastic bags, straws, takeout containers, utensils, and cups by 2030, and Chile passed a law banning the use of plastic bags for businesses.

Every little bit helps toward changing habits and reducing plastic waste. In addition to stopping straw use, Marriott International is eliminating single-use toiletry bottles typical to most hotels by installing shampoo dispensers in the showers. The new toiletry dispensers are expected to be in place at more than 1,500 hotels in North America by the end of this year.

 

https://youtu.be/4wH878t78bw