Students' paper chase will save 650 trees
By Francis Dorai
ABOUT 650 trees will be saved by the efforts of environment-conscious students from Anderson Junior College on Wednesday.
In a gruelling show of support for an ailing Earth, 1,600 enthusiastic students collected almost 100,000 copies of old newspapers in their Ang Mo Kio neighbourhood.
Mr William Tan, 29, teacher-adviser of AJC’s students’ council, said that recycling the newspapers, which weighed nearly 40 tonnes, would save about 650 trees from the axe.
It is estimated that at least 17 trees are spared with each tonne of paper recycled.
The "Be a Friend of the Earth" project, organised by the students’ council, is aimed at raising students’ environmental awareness.
Mr Tan said the project was part of the orientation programme for new JC1 students and gave them an opportunity to meet senior students.
A week ago, students went to flats In the Ang Mo Kio neighbourhood to distribute flyers asking for old newspapers. The response from residents was overwhelming and the students collected more than double the amount anticipated.
Mr Tan, who spearheaded the project in the school, related how a chiding from a colleague for wasting paper last year fuelled his Interest in the environment.
He said: "Since then I’ve tried to be more careful like using both sides of the paper for writing notes."
The principal of the college, Mrs Rebecca Mok, said the current affairs club plans to make conservation an on-going activity that will involve all students.
One of the club’s plans Is to place special bins in various parts of the building In which students and staff can deposit paper to be recycled.
Also In the offing are plans to encourage students to photocopy on both sides of the paper, and a series of video shows to educate students on environment preservation.
There is also an exhibition of posters and charts just outside the canteen which focuses on some of the major environmental concerns like global warming, ozone depletion and acid rain. There are also useful tips and reminders on "how to be gre1en for life".
Speaking to the JCI and JC2 students before they left on their newspaper-collection round, Mrs Mok underlined the Importance of conservation. Quoting from an article, she said: "A 100-year-old rainforest tree provides 20 years’ worth of oxygen for a human being.
"Yet man destroys 75 acres of rainforest every hour of every day. In a 100 years’ time, there will be no tropical forest left intact in the world."
She reminded the students of their responsibility to Earth and urged them to make a concerted effort to make this world a better place to live in.
While Mrs Mok acknowledged that the students’ efforts were but a small contribution towards saving the rainforest. she said that the collective efforts of individuals would make a difference.
It was quite obvious that the students were having a good time as they got off to a rousing start with the AJC rap before they set off at 3 pm.
Some students from JC1 and JC2 stayed till nearly midnight because of the large amount of newspaper collected. One group of students sold about 4,000 copies of newspapers to a passing rag-and-bone man because they were too heavy to cart.
The rest of the newspapers were sold to a local waste paper disposal company. The students raised about $4,000 from the sale of the newspapers. Many of the residents were supportive of the project, judging from the Immense pile of papers collected.
Miss Eunice Tay, an insurance agent who handed over a generous pile of newspapers, said: "It’s good that young people with fresh ideas are taking the initiative to save the environment. I wish more schools would follow suit."
Source : The Straits Times, 11th January 1991
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