Feb. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Staples Inc., the world's largest office-supplies retailer, ended its contracts with Asia Pulp & Paper Co. because of its environmental practices.

The retailer stopped its 11-year relationship with Asia Pulp in late January, spokesman Owen Davis wrote in an e-mail today. Staples got about 5 percent of its paper from Asia Pulp, which it used in some Staples-brand products. Davis declined to disclose the value of the contracts.

Staples works with its paper suppliers to improve the environmental impact of its products, Davis wrote. Framingham, Massachusetts-based Staples stopped buying from Asia Pulp ``due to their clear lack of progress in improving their environmental performance,'' Davis wrote.

A plan by Asia Pulp, Indonesia's biggest papermaker, to build a road to move logs may destroy forests that are home to Sumatran tigers and elephants, the World Wildlife Fund said last month.

Asia Pulp's partners have cleared about 50,000 acres of natural forest in the Bukit Tigapuluh national park, in many instances violating Indonesian law, the WWF said. Asia Pulp has denied any violations, saying it received proper licenses.

Asia Pulp is owned by Indonesia's Sinar Mas Group, which is controlled by the Widjaja family. Agustian Partawijaya and Joice Budisusanto, a spokesman and woman for Sinar Mas, didn't answer calls to their mobile phones. They weren't available when Bloomberg called the Sinar Mas office in Jakarta.

Exports accounted for more than half the sales at two of Asia Pulp's Indonesian units in the nine months to Sept. 30 last year. The two units, PT Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper and PT Pabrik Kertas Tjiwi Kimia, didn't give customer names.

The Wall Street Journal reported the news earlier today.

To contact the reporter on this story: Heather Burke in New York at hburke2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: February 7, 2008 21:52 EST