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Dematerialising municipal documents with ICT
The Danish City of Kolding is striving for reducing paper use thanks to a sound use of Information and Communication Technologies.
The general contracts for IT equipment (copiers, printers) secure that products with duplex function are available to all institutions. However, the use of this function is not monitored. Thus the Mayor has initiated additional efforts to reduce paper consumption in specific situations. Traditionally the documents for the meetings of the Town Council have been circulated on paper to a very large number of target persons: the Members of the Council and of the different Committees, the director of the municipality, the press and the information manager, the libraries, etc. Not all the recipients are interested in – or have time to read these documents, and most of them are absolutely useless and probably quickly end up in the paper bin.
Now, a Mayor’s decree specifies that printed documents are only given to the standing Members of the relevant committees and the library. The other members of the Town Council and the Director of the Municipality receive them by e-mail and other interested parties can find them on the home page of the municipality.
This measure resulted in a significant decrease in paper consumption of the administration by about 10% in 2002. This corresponds to 1,800 kg of paper, 412 kg of which have been saved at the town hall. Still the potential for paper saving is high either by avoiding the distribution of unnecessary printed copies and / or by duplex copying.
Using e-mails and Internet not only reduce paper waste, it also increases work efficiency by reducing the need and time for copying and sending. It also ensures a much faster and larger communication to the press and the citizens in particular. However this approach also implies that the recipients behave environmentally consciously and print only the necessary documents.
More information:
Dematerialisation: a special feature of the Third Waste Management Plan for the Brussels-Capital Region
Since 1992, two Waste Management Plans for the Brussels Region have been developed and implemented by the Brussels Institute for the Management of the Environment (IBGE-BIM). Brussels has early focused the approach of waste management towards “clean products” and waste prevention.
A new Plan has been proposed at the beginning of 2003. It is highly innovative for it aims at promoting “dematerialisation” in households, schools and offices.
The new Plan intends to give a boost to waste prevention in dedicating 2 chapters to dematerialisation, i.e. the achievement of the same level of well-being with the use of less material resources. Dematerialisation targets households and offices.
Dematerialisation for households
would notably imply actions :
- to address wasteful behaviours and promote debate on advertising;
- promote products without waste and recycled products : empowering consumers for recognising green products and services; replacing products with services; increasing the durability of products and eco-efficiency; promoting products containing recycled materials
- master information and communication technologies: sparking off the debate on the dematerialisation potential of ICT; stimulating research in ICT which could benefit the environment.
Dematerialisation in offices and other sectors
would consist in actions:
- to green public procurement rules: adaptation of rules; increasing knowledge of ecological office stationery;
- rationalise the use of ICT: estimating the quantities of waste resulting from the use of ICT; raising awareness of efficient use of ICT;
- in other sectors, to promote
dematerialisation at events, fairs and exhibitions; to address the building sector.
The Third Waste Management Plan also aims at encouraging the reuse and repair of goods.
Dematerialisation in offices
The Brussels Region has launched pilot projects in public and private enterprises to assess the potential of paper and energy savings allowed by the proper use of new information and communication technologies. The project also aimed to identify factors which change consumption and to determine ways to impact positively on those factors.
Ten pilot entities have been selected, and 3 potential scenarios for improvement identified:
- awareness and education of employees
- introduction of new technologies and eco-efficient tools
- a reflection on the structural organisation and the management of information flows for the whole organisation.
The main conclusions of the project are the following :
- The reduction potential of paper consumption can range from 10% to 30% only by making the most of existing tools (employees often have a bad knowledge of the available material). For the Brussels Region’s offices, this means a reduction potential for paper consumption between 1,900 and 5,700 tons per year.
- If an integrated approach was implemented, with the aforementioned improvement opportunities, this rate of 30% could be exceeded.
More information:
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