Save That Valuable Paper
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pAPER is now one of our mostscarce and valuable commodities. Apart from its use by the Press, it is employed for a large variety of other purposes. The Government, particularly the Civil Service (including the many Ministries), the Services, trade and commerce, and the general public (for correspondence), all employ huge amounts, whilst packaging takes many kinds of paper and cardboard.
Encouraging Local Authorities There is now a nation-wide drive for wastepaper, much of which can be re-employed—the clean for special purposes, and the not-so-clean for uses which, whilst being important, are not so concerned with quality and colour. Local authorities are being encouraged to step up their efforts in this direction by the institution of a competition with prizes amounting to £20.000. It started on January 1, and it is hoped in this way to bring in an additional 150,000 tons a year. The total salvage of old cardboard and paper is now said to be over 800.000 tons a year, but a further 1,200,000 tons of good material are thrown away.
For a long time it seemed that the interest in saving wastepaper, had entirely gone. Matty people, to our knowledge, have been disappointed at the little effort and, often, discouragement which followed their endeavours to effect savings. We know of instances in which large piles of paper in good condition were refused by the refuse collectors, and others in which it was suggested that householders should pay for the extra work involved in removing such paper. Yet the price obtained by municipalities may be as high as £17 per ton, and some have benefited their rates considerably by carrying out the saving in a practical and conscientious manner.
The need is urgent, for not only is paper scarce, but it is becomingextremely expensive. What is more, to import it in considerable quantities absorbs a considerable amonnt of shipping space and, in most cases, a great many dollars.
Punish Deliberate Waste
In some countries, it is an offence to throw paper about the streets, in public places or around the countryside. There are local by-laws in some places here where such an act renders the offender liable to a penalty, but legislation should be made more general. Tickets litter our buses and the streets, whilst conductors throw them to the winds to show that there is no deception when people pay their fares just as they dismount.
Care should also be exercised in the use of new paper. Often we receive from Government offices, including communications in connection with the Festival of Britain, huge envelopes containing a few lines on large sheets. In the interests of paper economy, such waste must cease.