3:56pm Wednesday 17th March 2010
By Richard Catton
AN ANGRY ape was amongst a small group of protesters who gathered outside the Nestlé factory in Haxby Road to question the company’s green credentials.
This morning's protest saw members of Greenpeace handing leaflets to staff alleging that Nestlé is sourcing palm oil from areas of Indonesia, where the process is destroying the habitat of orang-utans.
One of those protesting in Haxby Road was Greenpeace volunteer Richard Claxton, of Pocklington, who accused Nestlé of dealing with the Sinar Mas Group, which it said was “trashing” the rainforest to find palm oil.
He said: “Nestlé products like Kit Kats contain palm oil from suppliers who are trashing rainforests and driving orang-utans to extinction.
“Other big companies are acting to stop this, but Nestlé is turning a blind eye to it and continuing to trade with a company that has done more than any other to wipe out the rainforests of Indonesia.”
However, a spokesman for Nestlé denied dealing with the Sinar Mas Group Nestle said: “We can assure you that Nestlé UK does not buy palm oil from the Sinar Mas Group for any of our products, including Kit Kat. “We do purchase palm oil from Cargill and we have sought assurances from them about their supply chain.
“Cargill has informed us that Sinar Mas needs to answer Greenpeace’s allegations by the end of April. They have indicated that they will de-list Sinar Mas if they do not take corrective action by then.”
Nestlé added that it recently undertook a detailed review of its supply chain to establish the source of its palm oil supplies and had made a commitment to using only “Certified Sustainable Palm Oil” by 2015.
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