A NEW campaign to reduce office waste hopes to make a flap with a giant paper aeroplane.

Envirowise, a Government programme in its eleventh year, wants workers in South Bucks to reduce the amount of paper they get through in a month.

To make their point, members of the group have created a 35ft wastepaper aeroplane constructed from the paper they claim the average office worker uses in one month 1,584 sheets of A4.

They say the 3.1billion sheets of paper used every month by office workers in the South East is enough to stretch to the moon and back, with paper usage still growing by 20 per cent each year.

Envirowise regional agent for the South East, Mick Lynn, called the waste "a drain on our environment" but also commented on the cost to local businesses.

He said: "It is a burden on most companies' bottom line.

"They are wasting money with every piece of paper they use needlessly. In our experience, most businesses don't think enough about how much they are paying for items they are throwing away.

"There is tremendous scope for reducing waste in offices."

Envirowise wants employees to use just 15 sheets of paper each day, rather than the 100 sheets they claim get wasted daily in less resourceful offices.

To "help businesses take the first steps", the group suggest the following measures: Think before you print do you really need to print that document or make so many copies of it?

Use recycled paper rather than virgin paper.

Re-use scrap paper.

Issue documents electronically rather than in paper form.

Nominate a waste champion to implement and promote waste minimisation within the company.

Ollie Williams