Over 1,000 companies endorse Green Pledge
MORE than 1,000 companies out of a total of about 5,000 in Singapore have signed the .Green Pledge to show their commitment to saving the environment.
The pledge, also known as the Singapore Business Charter for Sustainable Development, was launched during Clean and Green Week last year by the Singapore Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Supported by members of the federation and the Singapore Hotel Association, it is signed by the companies’ chief executive officers and is intended as a visual reminder to the staff of the commitment the company has made.
Mr Edwin Khew, chairman of the Environmental committee of the Singapore Manufacturers’ Association, which is a member of the federation, said this support is voluntary.
"We cannot force them to do it and it doesn’t mean that if they sign, somebody’s going to check if they’re complying
with each point," he said.
Signatories' names are published in a directory, also called The Green Pledge, together with a summary of the Government’s Singapore Green Plan and the Green Labelling Scheme. The directory also holds a list of green groups and their contacts, and will be distributed free through Singapore embassies overseas. They may also be bought at Huntington Publications for $10.
To back up the pledge-signing, the SMA is organising a waste minimisation assessment for manufacturers of metal finishings and electroplating.
Experts are being invited from the United States late this month to study typical processes In several companies, and tell the manufacturers how to reduce waste in those processes. The information will then be spread to the rest of the industry.
Funding for the assessment programme will come from the Asean Environment Improvement Project under the United States Agency for International Development. The programme will be extended to other industries if there is money for this.
Mr Khew spoke to reporters after a breakfast meeting for CEOs of signatory companies. It was held at the Omni Marco Polo Hotel.
A copy of the directory was presented to the guest of honour, Mr Abdullah Tarmugi, Acting Minister for Community Development and Minister of State for the Environment.
Mrs Perlita G. Tiro, managing director of Tiro Consulting Services, an executive recruitment company, who was at the breakfast, said:
"We’re very small, with only six staff members, but I think every little bit helps."
For Tiro, this means drafting memos and plans on the backs of photocopied certificates from application letters or something as simple as having the lights and photocopier off at lunchtime.
Doing things on a larger scale is the Hyatt International chain of hotels, which has measures ranging from high- to low-tech.
One of the lower technology changes is using cloth laundry bags instead of plastic ones, and having guest soaps wrapped in paper rather than plastic.
On the higher-tech end are energy-conserving facilities which switch the power off when guests are not in their rooms, and computer networks.
Mr Ed Brea, executive assistant manager, food and beverage, Hyatt Regency Singapore, said: "We are linking up departments in the hotels, and hotels internationally, on computer, so we can message each other electronically.
"The Singapore Hyatt already has the system, and now the secretaries don’t have to xerox 50 copies of a memo and send it out to all the departments. They just send a message."
Source : The Straits Times
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