Kimberly-Clark

“When people ride bikes, great things happen.”

March 6, 2011

Rising gasoline prices don’t much worry Rob Gusky. Gusky, a 48-year-old process engineer at a Kimberly-Clark facility in Neenah, Wisconsin, travels to work year-round by bicycle, making the 17-mile round trip even in winter. (Friday’s low in Neenah was 20 degrees.) When it snows, he switches to a bike with studded tires.

Why? Because biking to work is good for his health, good for his pocketbook and good for the planet. What’s not to like?

Rob Gusky: Neither wind, nor sleet, nor hail...

Gusky, who has been a committed bicycle commuter since 2008, when gas prices first topped $4 a gallon, has led efforts to spread the practice through Kimberly-Clark. Spurred on by bicyclists inside the company, Kimberly-Clark now sponsors a competition among its employees to promote bike riding, a statewide program called “Get Up and Ride,” a fall biking event to raise money for the United Way, and free bike tune-ups during Bike to Work week. The company  provides ample bike parking and showers at its offices worldwide.

Business support for bike community is one reason why more Americans than ever — about 765,000, according to a 2009 survey by the census Bureau — bike to work. That number is up by 44% since 2000 but it could and should be higher. It represents just 0.55% of all Americans. By comparison, 76.1% of commuters drive to work alone. Here’s a spreadsheet on commuting choices from The League of American Bicyclists, with interesting historical and geographic data, including a list of cities that shows which one have the most bike commuters. Portland and, to my surprise, Minneapolis, lead the way; it turns out that Minneapolis has 46 miles of streets with dedicated bicycle lanes and 84 miles of off-street bicycle paths.

With gas prices rising, I called Tim Blumenthal to see what could be done to encourage biking as a means of transportation. Tim is the  executive director of the Bikes Belong Coalition, an industry association dedicated to putting more people on bicycles more often. A former magazine journalist and avid mountain biker, Tim, who is 55, has been a TV commentator for more than 35 ESPN and OLN/Versus mountain bike programs. [click to continue…]

{ 2 comments }

Greenpeace, Kimberly-Clark: the deal

August 5, 2009

Here’s a press release from Kimberly-Clark, the forest products giant announcing new fiber sourcing standards.  Greenpeace has ended its hard-hitting “Kleercut” campaign. No time right now for analysis, but I want to update yesterday’s post with details of the agreement. (The bold highlights are my own.)

Here, too, is a link to a Greenpeace video celebrating the end of the campaign.

And a link to Greenpeace campaigner Scott Paul’s blog where he asks: “Hey Proctor & Gamble (maker of Charmin and Bounty) and Georgia Pacific (maker of Angel Soft and Brawny), you reading this?”

Scott also writes: “Buy me a beer and I’ll bend your ear with some of the most inspirational, innovative, dedicated and downright hysterical things that happened during this campaign… and all staying within our core values of peaceful protest. Marshall McLuhan and the Quakers would be proud.”


kleercut-case-closed-430px
Washington, D.C.– Aug. 5, 2009 — Kimberly-Clark Corporation, the maker of Kleenex, Scott and Cottonelle brands, today announced stronger fiber sourcing standards that will increase conservation of forests globally and will make the company a leader for sustainably produced tissue products. Greenpeace, which worked with Kimberly-Clark on its revised standards, announced that it will end its “Kleercut” campaign, which focused on the company and its brands. [click to continue…]

{ 5 comments }

Shocker! Greenpeace, Kimberly-Clark get huggy

August 4, 2009

Greenpeace targets Kimberly-Clark

Greenpeace targets Kimberly-Clark

For the last few years, Greenpeace has waged a relentless campaign against Kimberly-Clark, a $19-billion a year forest-products giant whose brands include Kleenex, Huggies, Scott, Pull-Ups and Cottonelle. Greenpeace accused K-C, among other things, of destroying ancient forests in Canada so we can all wipe our noses with Kleenex.

Kimberly-Clark also misled the public about its practices, as I reported back in 2006, citing Greenpeace’s research. (See Are Kleenex Tissues Wiping Out Forests? on Fortune.com.)

Now, it looks as if the antagonists have made peace. Kimberly-Clark and Greenpeace invited reporters to a Washington news conference tomorrow (8-5) and while neither side will talk yet, you can bet that they’ve made a deal.

Knowing Greenpeace as I do (my wife worked there for a couple of years), you can also be confident that K-C has agreed to make significant changes in its practices. Maybe the company will use more recycled stock in tissues? Maybe the company will use more wood that’s certified as sustainable by the Forest Stewardship Council? For sure, K-C will agree to take better care of Canada’s Boreal Forest, a focal point of the campaign, which began in 2004. We’ll know soon. [UPDATE: Here's the announcement.]

We already know that this has been a very tough campaign, waged on the Internet, with street protests and at shareholder meetings. [click to continue…]

{ 7 comments }