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Following is a question by the Hon Lau Kong-wah and a written reply by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr Edward Yau, (in the absence of the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury), in the Legislative Council today (June 4):
Question:
Regarding the consumption of paper by various government departments, will the Government inform this Council of:
(a) the respective quantities of paper procured by various government departments in the past three years, and the expenditure involved;
(b) the quantities of paper used (including those for printing annual reports) by various government departments in each of the past three years, as well as the trend in their paper consumption; and
(c) the measures currently taken by various government departments to reduce the consumption of paper, and whether such measures include the replacement of printed copies with soft copies in the publication of annual reports?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) Apart from the printing paper procured by the Government Logistics Department and the photocopying paper procured for bureaux/departments through term contracts, the Government has not kept any statistics on the quantities of paper procured by individual bureaux/departments in each of the past three years. The quantities and related expenditure of paper procured by the Government Logistics Department in the past three years are as follows:
Year Printing Paper Photocopying Paper
Quantity Expenditure Quantity Expenditure
(Metric ($M) (Metric ($M)
tonnes) tonnes)
2005 7,825 52.6 4,244 33.1
2006 6,244 45.7 4,177 32.7
2007 5,789 46.5 4,320 34.1
(b) The Government has not kept any statistics on the annual paper consumption of individual bureaux/departments in the past three years. Nevertheless, the amount of printing paper consumed by Government Logistics Department for printing publications for bureaux/departments is provided below:
Year Printing Paper
(Metric tonnes)*
2005 6801
2006 5987
2007 6224
* Printing requirements for publications vary from year to year according to demand. For example, there were more printing requirements in 2007 than in 2006 due to the 10th anniversary of the establishment of HKSAR, the District Council Election and the Legislative Council By-election (Hong Kong Island Constituency).
(c) The Director of Administration issued a circular at the end of 2003 to all government bureaux/departments advising them to maximise the use of internet or CD-ROMs for the issue of annual reports and departmental newsletters and minimise the use of paper for printing such documents as far as possible in order to reduce paper consumption.
In addition, according to the Environmental Protection Department, under the Government's green management policy, the focus is to encourage the reduction of the use of paper and the promotion of the use of environment-friendly paper. The Environmental Protection Department has also provided detailed guidelines to bureaux and departments on the reduction of paper consumption such as through the use of electronic means instead of paper, reducing the size of documents and double-sided printing, etc. The Government will continue to enhance its efforts on green management and paper reduction for the protection of our environment.
Ends/Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Issued at HKT 11:30
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