AF&PA Urged California Governor to Veto Assembly Bill

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The American Forest & Paper Association (AF&PA) released a statement urging California Governor Gavin Newsom to veto the Assembly Bill 416- The California Deforestation-Free Procurement Act.

According to statement issued by Heidi Brock, President and CEO, AF&PA, the AB 416 Act ignores the numerous benefits of sustainable, working forests to the environment and local communities. The country sources vast majority of wood used in paper and wood products manufacturing from sustainable forests, most of them are family-owned, the statement noted.

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The statement alleged that the bill will have negative impacts on products with recycled content. The provisions of the bill would require producers of these products to provide proof that the content did not come from a tropical deforestation region. The bill does not exclude recycled content products from reporting requirements. This would make things extremely difficult for manufacturers as it is almost impossible to determine the origin of recovered fiber.

AF&PA said that the legislation is counterproductive to the state’s commitments to boost housing supply, address housing crisis and other supply-chain related issues.