University paper trail cuts swathe through forest (extract)

The world lost close to 3,000 trees so that Hong Kong 's eight universities could produce promotional and registration material for its student recruitment in July and August, according to a study by Consumers Acting for people and the Environment.

"That's enough trees to cover Hong Kong Stadium's sports field seven times over," Carol Kwok Wai-ling, a project manager with CAPE , said yesterday.

Each university's registration pack was put on display for emphasis—and some were as thick as nine centimetres.

For this year's recruitment period, the universities went through 122 tonnes of paper, compared with 233 tonnes last year, and 150 tonnes in 2006.

The study also found that Chinese University and Hong Kong University were the biggest paper consumers, while Baptist and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology used the least.

Chinese University's registration pack weighed 1.7 kilograms, whereas Baptist's weighed only 15 grams. Chinese University has been the number one consumer of paper in each of the past three years the study has been carried out. Kwok said Baptist reduced waste by sending students several documents that listed links to information and forms posted online.

Paul Mozur
The Standard, 2 September 2008