Publications

Report of the Commissioner for Labour 2000

Appendix VI

LABOUR DEPARTMENT ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT FOR 2000

The Labour Department and its Services
The Labour Department is the principal agency in the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for the execution and co-ordination of major labour administration functions. It has four key areas of work namely, Labour Relations, Employment Services, Safety and Health at Work and Employee Rights and Benefits. As at 31 December 2000, the department had an establishment of 1 867 staff, accommodated in 46 office locations throughout the territory.

As the department attaches great importance to environment protection, a committee comprising directorate officers has been established to oversee the department's environmental policy and performance. The committee has directed its efforts at various levels in its objective of achieving a green office. With an increased environmental consciousness amongst our officers and their support, good progress has been made.

Our Environmental Policy and Measures
The Labour department is committed to environmental protection by complying with relevant legislation and codes of practices and providing a green environment for its staff and members of the public visiting its offices. The following policies have been adopted in pursuit of such commitment:
(a) Minimisation of Consumption
The department monitors stringently the effectiveness of various existing measures implemented under the Green Management Scheme, which cover minimisation of resource consumption, energy conservation and wastepaper recovery. A detailed description of measures taken is annexed for general information.
(b) Training and Publicity amongst Staff
Through promotional and educational programmes, the department aims to ensure all staff members are kept aware of their environmental responsibilities. Staff are also encouraged to put forward suggestions of green initiatives under the Departmental Staff Suggestion Scheme.
(c) Review of Office Practices
The department takes a proactive approach in reviewing office practices that are not environment friendly and introduces various improvement measures whenever feasible.
(d) Minimising Environmental Pollutants
The department takes every measure to minimise the production of environmental pollutants and/or nuisance by following the guideline on infection control issued by the Department of Health regarding clinical waste disposal in our Occupational Health Clinics. Chemical wastes of the Occupation Hygiene Laboratory are collected by specialized waste collector. Asbestos wastes produced by the laboratory are disposed of by appointed asbestos waste collector as required.

Performance and Targets

In 2001, the department will sustain its effort to achieve zero per cent or even negative growth in paper and electricity consumption despite an increase in the level of activities. The department will encourage all staff to take waste minimisation and energy conservation measures such as communication by e-mail and Internet, using both sides of paper, switching off electrical appliances not in use, etc. A list of such measures is in the Annex.

Notes:

1. All paper used was recycled paper.
2. The figures for wastepaper collection in 2000 and 2001 include paper collected under the large-scale disposal project for obsolete files.

Green Housekeeping Measures Taken
Waste Minimisation

• using both sides of paper:
  Officers are encouraged to write and print on both sides of the paper.
• using the blank side of used paper for drafting or printing of works:
  Boxes are provided for collection of paper, which has been used on one side only, for printing and drafting jobs. Internal documents like Departmental Permanent Orders, Departmental Advisory Memoranda, file copies and flimsies are printed on the blank side of used paper.
• using recycled paper:
  100% of the paper used by the department in 2000 was recycled paper.
• minimising photocopies:
  The department has started uploading documents like government gazette notices to the Headquarters Local Area Network for viewing and accessing.
• minimising copies of circulars:
  With the wider use of Internet for circulation, the number of copies of circulars has been dramatically reduced.
• communicating by e-mail and Internet:
  The extension of the Headquarters Local Area Network and the Government Office Automation Programme and the allocation of about 200 Internet Service Providers e-mail accounts in 2000 have greatly enhanced both internal and external communication by e-mail and Internet.
• using plain paper fax machines:
  Starting from 2000, all fax machines in the department are plain paper type.
• using double-side photocopiers:
  The department has been by phrases replacing photocopying machines by those equipped with double-side photocopying function.
• avoiding use of fax leader pages:
  Officers are encouraged to use fax note stickers, instead of fax leader pages.
• exchanging softcopies / diskettes within and outside of department:
  Officers are encouraged to minimise the printing of hardcopies by exchanging softcopies (by e-mail) / diskettes (by dispatch).
• using old sets of documents for circulation:
  For those documents like Departmental Permanent Orders that require routine re-circulation, the original sets of documents have been and will be preserved for re-use.
• redeploying serviceable furniture and equipment that no longer meet business requirement to other offices:
  Whenever there is a surplus of serviceable new style furniture and equipment, officers will be invited to consider taking up the furniture and equipment that are unsuitable for the original users.
• using refillable ball pens:
  All officers have been provided with refillable ball pens.
• re-using decorative materials:
  The old set of decorative materials has been kept for re-using for years.
• other waste minimisation measures:
  - re-using envelopes or using transit envelopes
  - not using envelopes for unclassified documents
  - re-using loose minute jackets
  - urging staff to use their own cups instead of paper cups
  - minimising use of wooden pencils
  - using recyclable laser printer cartridges
  - minimising copies of flimsies and reference copies at meeting

Waste recovery for recycling/re-use

• collection of waste paper
• collection of used printer cartridges

Energy conservation

• routine checking to switch off electrical appliances not in use
• using high efficiency electric lamps/tubes
• reducing lighting to minimum required for illumination
• setting air conditioning to energy-efficient temperature so that staff feel comfortable rather than cold
• encouraging staff to use staircases for inter-floor traffic