Greens plot better paper trail

A green group is calling on businesses and workers to start a consumer-led campaign for paper from sustainable sources.

Green Sense also called for the adoption of stricter guidelines on paper usage.

"If consumers demand environmental accountability from their paper sources, manufacturers will respond to the shift," vice president Jan Lai Ming-chuen said.

According to the green group, some 158 tonnes of paper are thrown away daily – 53 percent residential and 47 percent commercial and industrial – while a paltry three tones, or 1.8 percent, are recycle, based on 2007 government figures.

A Hong Kong University opinion poll in June and July found that 85 percent of 513 office staff were willing to adopt daily habits to combat climate change, such as making copies only when necessary and reducing the size of a document to save pages.

The study also found eco-friendly paper usage declined as convenience diminished. "More respondents were able to adopt habits which they can introduce right away that require no specialized knowledge and do not compromise convenience," Lai said.

Calling office staff's paper usage "cautious but shallow," he said people should try to have a better understanding of different types of paper products and opt for those that are environmentally sustainable.

Senior executive vice president of Double A Paper Thirawit Leetavorn said paper mills needed to play their part in finding sustainable production methods to keep up with growing demand while preserving natural forests.

Forecasting an annual growth rate of 3.5 percent until 2020 from about 60 million tonnes of printing and writing paper produced last year, he said the continued failure of the market to reflect the true cost of production, specifically the cost of environmental damage during harvesting, will continue to lead to such activities as illegal logging and unsound waste disposal.

His company's Thailand operations sell fast-growing seeding to farmers for roughly HK$4 which reach maturity at five-stories high in three years. The trees are repurchased at market rates after maturing.

According to consultancy studies, Double A's external or environmental costs are HK$0.26 per HK$25 ream of paper, compared with HK$0.58 at a UK recycled paper mill or HK$2.40 at an Indonesian paper mill. Leetavorn said sustainable paper is cheaper if environmental costs are factored into prices.

Timothy Chui
The Standard, 30 September 2008