Financial sector&#39s paper waste increased by emails

The new study, by not-for-profit waste awareness organisation Waste Watch, has now recommended that this sector should tackle its high paper use and increase recycling. Waste Watch's study was published last week as part of Biffaward's larger Mass Balance project which is looking at the UK's total resource use and waste arisings.

As part of the study, Waste Watch formed a steering group of companies and associations from accountancy, banking, insurance and pension fund sectors, including Lloyds TSB, HSBC, Prudential and the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

For some of the large and head offices surveyed, more than 60% of the waste produced was paper or cardboard. The amount of paper used and discarded by an office is linked to the number of employees and floor space, the report found, and has not been reduced since the advent of email.

“The adoption of e-communication has increased paper use; information is printed repeatedly as required rather than printed once and filed,” the report said.

Waste Watch estimated that a total of 373,000 tonnes of waste is produced each year by the financial sector. Recycling rates in the sector ranged from 0-69% with an average of 24%, which is comparable to the wider commercial sector's average.

Office recycling

To recycle more paper from offices, Waste Watch recommended that companies introduce recycling schemes and run awareness campaigns amongst staff. “Extending paper recycling schemes beyond confidential paper is one of the key ways of increasing recycling rates since, taken as a whole, mixed paper, newspapers and magazines accounted for an average of 26% of the waste leaving large offices. White paper accounts for a further 20%,” it said.

Anna Francis of Waste Watch said that many of the report's recommendations are applicable to other office-based businesses, and members of the steering group have already responded positively to the report.

Waste Watch is producing another report for the Biffaward Mass Balance project on the education sector. It is working with around 50 schools, colleges and universities and hopes to publish its findings in September 2004.

The report on the financial sector entitled “Rethinking waste management to reap rewards – minimising waste for business benefit” is available to download from the Waste Watch website.