Two start paper chase to cut down on waste
By Dominic Nathan
S'pore Poly, CPF Board first to take part in ENV's waste audit scheme
IT IS the Great Paper Chase ... of waste.
Two organizations, Singapore Polytechnic and the Central Provident Fund Board, are acting to cut down waste in paper and other materials, and to start up more recycling schemes.
They were the first to take part in a new waste audit programme launched by the Environment Ministry last month.
This audit is to help organizations cut down waste and recycle more of their paper, plastics, metal or other wastes.
Government departments use an estimated 120 million sheets of A4 size paper annually for photocopying alone.
The ministry’s Waste Minimisation Department says that savings from not wasting paper could therefore be considerable both in terms of money spent and for the environment.
Every year, the civil service spends some $3.7 million on buying paper for duplicating, photocopying and type-writing.
The ENV waste audit programme is a free service. It plans to do an average of two audits every month, starting with office buildings and institutions.
In such audits, ENV officials will first meet representatives from the organizations to find out their business activities and the source, types and amounts of wastes generated.
They will then go through the waste generated on a typical working day and assess the types and quantities of waste that are recyclable.
The audit at the Singapore Polytechnic found that some 10 per cent of the 4,000 litres of paper wastes generated daily could be recycled.
The findings for the CPF Building audit have yet to be finalized, but a CPF Board spokesman said: "It was estimated that about 150 kg of paper wastes is generated daily.
"We will now carry out our own surveys with our staff and tenants to see where savings can be achieved." Both organizations will now look into setting up more recycling schemes for paper.
The waste audits are part of an overall ministry programme to minimize waste and encourage use of recycled paper.
The ministry is now coordinating a pilot tender to buy recycled paper for five government ministries and three statutory boards.
The tender for about 22.5 million sheets of photocopier, letterhead and memo pad paper is being done as a bulk order to help lower the prices of recycled paper products here.
The higher prices have been cited as the main reason why private sector companies are not switching to recycled paper.
Using recycled paper means a higher cost of between 20 and 50 per cent, depending on the source of paper, the amount used and the quality of the finish.
If the pilot tender is successful, recycled paper could replace over 80,000 tonnes of natural pulp paper used by government departments every year.
This would mean saving more than 1.2 million trees every year.
Source : The Straits Times, May 27 1992
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