Japanese paper firms admit recycling lies

We only use European papers but just goes to show everything can prove other than it actually is. We trust our suppliers to keep us up to date with all the information we require. But every so often we do get our papers tested by specialists to make sure they are what we have requested (and we have had one printer use a stock that wasn't a recycled stock at all).


The Guardian, Saturday January 19 2008
The reputation of Japan's paper industry lay in tatters yesterday after the market leader, Oji Paper, admitted it had lied for more than a decade about the amount of recycled paper it used.

The revelation comes days after the country's second-biggest paper company, Nippon Paper Group, admitted it had made similarly false claims.

Oji Paper said the amount of recycled paper in its copy and printing paper was as high as 50% when the real figure was between 5% and 10%. The firm's envelopes contained, at most, 30% of recycled paper, although consumers had been led to believe it was as high as 70%. Some products contained no recycled material at all.

"We had let the ratio of recycled paper fall amid rising shipments while the amount of recycled paper did not grow," Oji Paper's president, Kazuhisa Shinoda, told reporters in Tokyo.

Shinoda said he would not resign over the scandal but apologised for misleading consumers. The fabrication, he said, had "betrayed public trust and we apologise to our clients and customers".

Nippon Paper's president, Masatomo Nakamura, said he would take responsibility for the scandal and resign.

Oji Paper and Nippon Paper are among five firms accused of misleading customers about the recycled-paper content of product lines, including millions of new year's greetings cards.

The scandal dragged down shares in paper companies on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Nippon Paper's shares plummeted 10% to 267,000 yen (£1,269) after Fuji Xerox and other firms said they would stop selling its products. Shares in Oji Paper dived 4.7% to close at ¥476.

Japan's fair trade commission is expected to decide soon whether the companies can be prosecuted under mislabelling laws.