It’s not easy being green

Date: 07/12/1995

A problem has arisen in DGIX, where the Commission's personnel and administration staff have been working very hard trying to follow the example set by their environmentally-friendly brethen in DGXI.

The very sound rules laid down by the environmentalists are designed to ensure that the Commission practises what it preaches: wherever possible, waste paper is despatched to a recycling plant, to be reincarnated as more sheets of A4 in another life. It's a highly-commendable policy, enhanced by the fact that it actually makes money.

Scruffy old paper is left out for collection in a yellow tray and nice shiny white stuff is left in a white tray. The recyclers then cart it all away, leaving behind a donation towards Europe's running costs.

DGXI even publicises the amount of money earned through the scheme by printing occasional cash updates in its internal newsletter. So far, the waste-paper policy has earned enough money to pay for three new computers.

Unfortunately, this noble venture has not been advertised widely enough. DGIX's office cleaners, operating to their own environmental rules on cleanliness and tidiness, have been beating the recyclers to it and gathering up all the old paper and dumping the lot in the rubbish bins.