Mitsubishi Will Consider Not Buying Old-Growth Woodchips (Gosh!)

`We do not condone unsustainable logging'
A major Japanese importer of Tasmanian woodchips has warned that it will no longer source old- growth woodchips from Tasmania if the practice is shown to be unsustainable.

The multinational company imports about 400,000 tonnes of Tasmanian woodchips each year for resale to Mitsubishi Paper Mills - about 10 per cent of the State's total woodchip exports to Japan.

Infrastructure, Energy and Resources Minister Bryan Green said about 15 per cent of Tasmanian woodchips are sourced from old- growth forest.

EDIT

Mitsubishi Corp said it was against company policy to buy wood resulting from unsustainable logging practices. "While we have concluded the vast majority of the woodchips we buy from Tasmania are from second-growth forests or plantations, we want it to be clearly understood that we do not condone unsustainable logging from old- growth or high-conservation value forests in Tasmania," Mitsubishi Corp said."

EDIT

http://www.examiner.com.au/story.asp?id=232242

Hmmm . . . if chipping old-growth forests is shown to be "unsustainable", they'll consider giving it up. Wow. Bold move.

Mitsubishi has been getting heat for at least 15 years for being one of the world's largest corporate sponsors of deforestation and environmental destruction.