LPP has started cooperation with Canopy – an international organisation for forest protection
LPP, as the first Polish company, has started cooperation with Canopy – an organisation whose operations aim at developing business practices among entrepreneurs for the sustainable use of forest resources worldwide by implementing changes in the area of purchasing paper, packaging and pulp fabrics. By joining the international initiative, the Polish clothing company has expressed its commitment to, among other things, supporting the idea of forest protection both as regards its packaging policy and the use of more environmentally friendly cellulose-based materials.
As a non-profit organisation, Canopy has been engaged in protecting endangered forests for over 20 years, working with more than 750 major forest resource companies and forest-based product suppliers. It engages with printing companies, packaging manufacturers and leading fashion brands and designers. The organisation helps shape their purchasing practices and create sustainable supply chain solutions for their purchases of paper, packaging and pulp fabrics. By undertaking these efforts, it aims to preserve 30-50% of the world’s primary and endangered forests by 2030. At the same time, it is helping to protect human health, biodiversity, freshwater systems and stabilise the climate. LPP, starting its cooperation with Canopy in June this year, is the first Polish business to have joined these actions.
– For us, this cooperation constitutes one of the elements of implementing our sustainable development strategy, in which environmental issues related to circular economy have been a key focus for a long time – elimination of plastics, responsible packaging management, or using more environmentally friendly fabrics. The collaboration with Canopy is therefore in line with our plans and will support, in particular, the move away from single-use plastics and the search for substitutes for them. We are aware that this may involve an increase in demand for forest products, which is why we want to take an approach to purchasing pulp, paper, packaging and fabrics that will allow us to protect primary and endangered forests at the same time – says Dorota Jankowska-Tomków, Sustainable Development and Purchasing Director, LPP.
By cooperating with Canopy, the company will use forest resources in a sustainable manner, including controlling its supply chain in terms of methods of obtaining and using pulp materials.
– We will accompany our suppliers in developing solutions to avoid using materials from sources that threaten forests and related ecosystems in production, both as regards packaging and fabrics, requiring that these be sourced from responsibly managed locations. We will focus on implementing further environmental standards in our operations and supporting the development of innovative, environmentally neutral sourcing. If we discover that any of our products have been manufactured using raw materials from endangered forests or illegal logging, we will engage our suppliers to change their practices and eliminate these materials – adds Dorota Jankowska-Tomków.
As part of the cooperation with Canopy – initiated in June, this year – LPP will be expressing preference for buying cellulose fabrics that contain at least 50% of recycled fibres or agricultural residues. LPP is keen to use innovative, recycled and closed-loop materials in its Eco Aware collections. Therefore, it will now also develop an order target for such viscose materials until 2025.
This year will also be marked by preparation of a strategy for reducing and reusing paper and packaging. In recent years, the company has undergone a real revolution in this area, including changing the design and durability of packaging, which has contributed to extending its life cycle, and using recycled paper in its packaging. LPP has also standardised the dimensions of bulk boxes. Thanks to this, the company has reduced their consumption by recovering almost 900,000 boxes over the last six months– thus saving 17,000 trees from being cut down.
As part of its cooperation with Canopy, the company will continue to work on implementing best practices for a circular economy and improving the environmental quality of packaging and paper. It will also develop the practice of using reusable shipping boxes in both the company’s external and internal operations. To reduce the use of paper and corrugated cardboard, it will also implement e-commerce, shipping, display and packaging systems that minimise paper consumption and increase the use of digital communication, marketing and accounting systems. Furthermore, it will also review all of the company’s paper and packaging use policies on an annual basis to identify areas where its use can be made more efficient or weight can be reduced. Also, it will target a high degree of recycled content, especially post-consumer waste or alternative fibres, in the selection of paper and paper products.
LPP will also encourage its suppliers to continuously improve and increase the availability of recycled fibre content in paper and packaging, and support research and development of pulp production from alternative fibres on a commercial scale. The aim is to achieve an average recycled fibre content of at least 50% in LPP papers and packaging within three years.
– Forests play a vital role in maintaining climate stability – both as carbon stores and as systems for regulating the water cycle – at a local and global level, which in times of environmental change is extremely important, not least in terms of human health and safety. Protecting the world’s limited forest resources is therefore of paramount importance today. In that regard, bearing in mind the wellbeing of future generations and the environment they will live in, through the cooperation with Canopy and our suppliers we want to support the preservation of intact forests and their functions in the ecosystem – explains Dorota Jankowska-Tomków from LPP.
Detailed information on the cooperation between LPP and Canopy can be found on the website: https://www.lpp.com/en/sustainable-development/environment/lpp-has-started-cooperation-with-canopy.
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LPP is a Polish family business and one of the fastest growing clothing companies in the region of Central and Eastern Europe. For 30 years it has been successfully operating in Poland and abroad, offering its collection in traditional stores already on 25 markets, including in such prestigious capitals as London, Berlin, Tel Aviv or Moscow. LPP SA manages five fashion brands: Reserved, Cropp, House, Mohito, and Sinsay. The company has a chain of over 1800 stores with the total area of 1.4 million sq.m. The online offer of the brands collections is available on 30 markets. On the basis of a global supply chain, the Polish clothing producer distributes over 259 million pieces of clothing to three continents. LPP plays another important role as it employs nearly 22 thousand people in its offices and sales structures in Poland, Europe, Asia, and Africa. The company is listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in the WIG20 index and belongs to the prestigious MSCI Poland index.