Apple now protects enough forest to produce all its paper packaging

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forest
Apple is smashing its previous forestry targets.
Photo: Whitney Flanagan, The Conservation Fund

Apple is now protecting enough sustainable forest land to cover all its paper packaging needs. The news is a major milestone for Apple, which has been buying up massive swathes of forest around the world for the past couple of years as part of its sustainability drive.

It means that Apple has already hit its goal of protecting 1 million acres of responsibly-managed forest by 2020 — two-and-a-half years ahead of schedule!

The news was reported by Chinese news outlet Xinhua Net, which notes that Apple has certified approximately 320,000 acres of working forest that the company now supports in China.

According to Apple, two-thirds of the forest is owned and managed by Maoyuan Forestry, a private company in central China’s Hunan Province, while the rest is owned and managed and managed by state-owned Qinlian Forestry Company in southwest China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. This land includes both semi-natural forests and forest plantations.

Apple’s forestry ambitions

Apple launched its forestry program back in 2015. That year, it bought up 36,000 acres of private forest land in in Maine and North Carolina it said would be sustainably harvested and used for its packaging, although other companies would also be able to purchase the fiber themselves.

Despite Xinhua Net noting that Apple has already hit its target of buying up 1 million acres of forest land it’s not clear what percentage of Apple’s packaging is made from recycled materials. The goal is for this to eventually hit 99 percent, much like Apple’s ambition to have almost all of its energy come from sustainable sources. Perhaps we’ll hear an update on this during Apple’s upcoming Q3 2017 earnings call?

Last week, Apple debuted a new hand-drawn ad to showcase its efforts when it comes to sustainable forestry.

Via: Apple Insider

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