• It takes 17 trees and 1500 litres of oil to make one tonne of paper.
• In Hong Kong, over 12,000 tonnes of municipal solid wastes are disposed of daily, or 4.4 million tonnes a year.
• About 20% of the domestic solid waste collected is paper.
• A pilot scheme in Tuen Mun indicated that an average household throws away 1 kg of newspaper every week. That's one tree a year.
• Producing recycling paper creates 74% less air pollution and 35% less water pollution than producing paper from virgin fibres.

A. What are the objectives of a Waste Paper Recycling Programme in residential buildings?

The objectives are :

to contribute towards an environmental cause by saving landfill space, conserving natural resources and reducing pollution; and to cultivate an environmental awareness among residents.

B. What specific targets do we want to achieve?

The targets are :

• to separate all recyclable paper waste from other wastes at source; and
• to dispose of the paper waste to waste dealers or paper mills for recycling.

C. What is the optimum scale of the programme?

This is flexible. It could be organised on the basis of individual buildings or a number of buildings. The greater number of households/buildings participating will, of course, make the programme more viable. So, co-operate with residents of your neighbouring buildings in these recycling programmes.

D. What organisational set up is required?

An organising committee with representatives of tenants and owners should be formed under a local organisation such as the Mutual Aid Committee, the Building Management Committee, the Owners' Corporation, the Area Committee or any neighbourhood organisation. To ensure effectiveness, the committee should not operate as an independent body unless there is no parent organisation that it can affiliate to.