Asia Pacific Rayon (APR – part of the RGE Group)

Riau, Sumatra, Indonesia

11
2
RP
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Risk to be Addressed

1. Completion of CanopyStyle Third Party Verification Audits

1.1 Undertaking Annual Audits

1.2 Audits Public and Results Acted On

1.3 Audit Risk Results

2. Contribution to Conservation Legacies

2.1 Public support web/panels

2.2 International conservation

2.3 Influences Decision Makers

2.4 Legislated Protection

2.5 Extra Respon­sibilities

3. Innovation via New Alternative Fibers

3.1 Partnerships

3.2 R&D Investments

3.3 Scaling to Commercial Products

3.4 Targets & Timelines

3.5 10% of pulp is NG

3.6 Contributing to Collective Goal

3.7 Aggressively Increasing Commercial Scale

4. Adoption of Robust Forest Sourcing Policy

4.1 Policy Adoption

4.2 Policy Meets All CanopyStyle Criteria

5. Traceability, Transparency, and Sustainable Sourcing

5.1 Track & Trace System In-Place

5.2 Public Sharing of Supplier List

5.3 Conducts Due Diligence

6. Leaders in Supply Chain Shifts

6.1 Proactive outreach/ Inspires Leadership

6.2 FSC Preference

6.3 Forest Mapper Support

6.4 Using the Dissolving Pulp Mill Classification

7. Associated with High Risk of Sourcing from Ancient & Endangered Forests and other Controversial Sources

7.1 Risk is Known

Total:

Buttons 11

Sustainable Chemical Management

PARTICIPATION IN ZDHC: The company is an active participant in ZDHC, where all of their viscose and modal facilities have joined the ZDHC Supplier Platform and have access to the MMCF Module.

2

CHEMICAL RECOVERY: All of the company’s MMCF viscose and modal facilities have reached at least the Progressive level in their chemical recovery parameters and limit value, according to Chapter 1: ZDHC MMCF Responsible Fibre Production Guidelines V2.2 (Evaluation will start in 2024)

0

WASTEWATER: All of the company’s MMCF viscose and modal facilities have reached at least the Progressive level in their wastewater discharge parameters and limit values, according to Chapter 2: ZDHC MMCF Wastewater Guidelines V2.2 (Evaluation will start in 2024)

0

AIR EMISSIONS: All of the company’s viscose and modal facilities have reached at least the Progressive level in their hazardous chemicals’ air emissions parameters and limit values, according to Chapter 3: ZDHC MMCF Air Emissions Guidelines V2.2 (Evaluation will start in 2024)

0

Total:

2 Points

Risk of sourcing from Ancient and Endangered Forests

As part of the Royal Golden Eagle Group (RGE), APR is a sister company to:

  • APRIL, the Indonesian pulp and paper producer and plantation company;
  • Sateri, an MMCF producer based in China; and
  • Bracell, a Brazilian-based dissolving pulp supplier.

The Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL) mill in Indonesia, an APR supplier, is held by the same beneficial owner as RGE, the Tanoto family.

APR continues to source more than 90% of its dissolving pulp from two Indonesian suppliers:

  • Asia Pacific Resources International Ltd (APRIL)
  • Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL)

APRIL, Toba Pulp Lestari (TPL), and their supply partners have a legacy of deforestation and conversion of natural forests and peatlands to monoculture plantations that has yet to be sufficiently remedied. APRIL continues to operate on carbon-rich, drained tropical peatlands, and there has been a history of disputes between communities and land rights-holders with both pulp mills, their operations, and their wood suppliers.

Since 2020, Canopy has been in intermittent dialogue with RGE and APRIL, and in previous years with TPL, in an effort to seek and agree on solutions to the challenges facing RGE’s viscose producers, including APR. Progress has been made in some areas, including advancing conservation in locations outside their supplier APRIL’s operating areas, but the core risks affecting APR’s Hot Button ranking have yet to be effectively addressed. We hope that further progress is possible.

APR is willing to undertake a CanopyStyle Audit; however, the supply chain risks and concerns identified in siter company Sateri’s audit apply equally to APR (both sourcing from APRIL) and must be effectively addressed prior to further audits being initiated.

The inclusion of red in a producer’s shirt rating – be it partially red or completely red – indicates risk of sourcing from high-carbon and biodiverse forests.

Key Improvements Required

As part of the RGE family of companies, APR is well-positioned to advocate internally for substantive change in the practices of its primary suppliers to address identified risks, including encouraging APRIL to:

  • Address the legacy of forest conversion and associated environmental impacts by increasing the restoration and protection of high-carbon peatlands within its operating land base.
  • Prioritize landscape-level planning and connectivity, identifying areas with the highest potential for restoration within operational areas, working in collaboration with independent scientists and local communities/rights-holders.
  • Set targets and timelines to retire and restore high-carbon peatlands within concession boundaries.
  • Scale up Next Generation technologies, innovation, and production while reducing reliance on forest-derived fibre.
  • Implement concrete and effective measures to remediate or provide restitution for adverse environmental and social impacts, including resolving conflict with traditional and local communities.
  • Continue to build the company’s awareness of the status of Ancient and Endangered Forests in the landscapes from which they source their fibre, and provide support for efforts to protect them (either by donation or in-kind).

APR can also:

  • Encourage transparency regarding APRIL’s planned production expansion, in particular through more open sharing of detailed information on long-term fibre sourcing plans.
  • Ensure all supply partners and open-market suppliers are not associated with the conversion of natural forests to plantations.
  • Accelerate the use of Next Generation fibre in order to meet or exceed the targets outlined in the Next Gen Vision for viscose: 50% Next Gen by 2030.

Areas where the company is showing leadership

APR’s Hot Button score has increased incrementally between 2021 and 2023 but they remain at a yellow-red shirt due to risk in their supply chain.

Sourcing:  

  • APR has engaged in dialogue with Canopy and customer brands about reducing the risks currently associated with its sourcing. Core supplier, APRIL, continues to engage in dialogue with Canopy regarding risks associated with its operations, but these risks have yet to be effectively addressed.
  • APRIL has commissioned research that has the potential to inform decision-making on biodiversity restoration within operating areas in the future.
  • APR has increased fibre sourcing transparency with a web-based tracking system that traces bales of fibre from concession-holder and plantation region to mill, then port.

Conservation:

  • Encouraged RGE and key supplier APRIL to support conservation initiatives in the critically important Leuser Ecosystem.
  • APRIL has established a conservation fund, wherein $1 for every ton of production is allocated towards research and potential action on conservation and restoration activities.
  • APRIL engaged in dialogue with the NGO Forest People’s Programme. According to a report published by FPP, they and local Indonesian groups engaged in order “to explore how the company can apply its own policies…to respect indigenous peoples’ customary rights.”

Next Generation Solutions:

  • APR has established an automated pilot plant to test Next Generation fibre inputs and blends and is investing in R&D into pre- and post-consumer waste fibre sourcing.
  • Parent company RGE established a five-year Research Centre project to develop new technologies for textile recycling, in partnership with Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
  • Is researching potential sources of pre–consumer textile waste supply in three countries.

Number of man-made cellulosic fibre and dissolving pulp mills + location and production volumes

Asia Pacific Rayon (APR) opened its mill in 2019 in Kerinci, Riau, Sumatra, Indonesia.

  • Current production capacity is 304,814 tonnes of viscose staple fibre. In 2021 APR publicly announced funding was secured to double production to 544,311 tonnes, however the timeline for expansion is presently unclear.

In 2020, Asia Pacific Yarn was opened, adjacent to and sourcing VSF from APR.

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