Dogwood Alliance

Southern Forests & the Packaging Problem

Packaging symbolizes the disposable society we have become. More and more, the piles of packaging we are forced to deal with no longer only serve the essential functions of protecting and transporting goods and products, but instead are about branding, marketing, and sales. As a result, in the U.S. we generate 300 pounds of packaging waste per person each year and 32% of the entire domestic waste stream consists of containers and packaging.

Learn about the negative environmental impacts on Southern forests caused by business as usual packaging and what Dogwood Alliance is going to do about it.

Click here to read more about the health and beauty industry and the Packaging Problem.

Click here to read more about the music industry and the Packaging Problem.

Click here to read more about the fast food industry and the Packaging Problem.

Transforming the Office Supply Sector

Where do most people and businesses purchase their paper? From the office supply retailers of course. Over the past 20 years, big box office supply retailers have become one of the world’s largest retailers of paper. For many people, familiar companies like Staples, Office Depot and OfficeMax represent the link from the forest to the paper mill producing the paper on the shelves of Staples, Office Depot and OfficeMax. Over the years we have worked hard to educate people about the importance of forests and the negative environmental impacts of business as usual paper production. With this effort, we have achieved systemic change throughout the paper industry through public campaigns against the largest retail paper sellers in the US - office super stores like Staples, Office Depot, OfficeMax and others. In less than a decade, the office supply sector has now transitioned from one of the most environmentally destructive industries to one that has begun to challenge the world's largest paper companeis to improve foresty practices. Now comes the task of turning agreements into on the ground protection for Southern forests and forests all over the world.