Australian Governments Won’t “Walk the Talk” on Sustainable Offices
Australian Governments Won’t “Walk the Talk” on Sustainable Offices |
| Thursday, 22 August 2013 14:53 |
| Sustainability is one of the hot topics this election. Many government organisations and corporations in Australia are very strong in their verbal support for sustainability these days, but they are weak on action. Their offices are full of papers and they are held together with environmentally-unfriendly metal ring binders.
Metal ring binders cannot be recycled. They are not sustainable. Tens of millions of them are sold in Australia every year – yet, very few of the organisations teaching companies how to comply with sustainability include ending the use of metal ring binders. An environmentally-friendly alternative to metal ring binders was developed years ago by an Australian, records management expert Darby Johns. The nylon ring mechanisms on Mr. John’s innovative “Ecobinder†cannot misalign or pinch fingers, will never rust, and are fully accepted by archives. Widely used in Australia, especially for photographic albums, these new binders stand upright on the shelf, use 8% less space, and can move from office to archive without repackaging. They are sustainable, recyclable and archival quality. However, despite Albox products being used by the governments of Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore, they are not being used by many of the organisations in Australia that you would expect. “It’s interesting,†says Mr. Johns. “I have gone to major banks, a large financial company, and even the Federal and State Departments responsible for sustainability and innovation, and they aren’t interested.†We all thought that the “paperless office†would be a reality by now, but paper usage has in fact increased by 50% over the last three decades, according to figures released by The Economist. Despite the explosive growth of technological gadgets, and the worldwide desire for sustainability, more and more physical, paper files are being created, stored and battled with in offices across the country, every day. What Australia needs now, Mr. Johns believes, is innovation – exciting, sustainable and unique innovations that will help to create Australian jobs, replace imports and create new export opportunities. Johns’ company, Albox Australia Pty Ltd, has developed over 100 record storage and management products, and his book “Sustainable Office & Archive Storage Systems†was endorsed by the Records Management Association of Australasia. The book and product details are freely available at http://www.albox.com.au. “Ring binders may seem to be a small issue,†says Mr. Johns. “But small bricks can make very large walls. Ring binders are in most offices and homes in Australia, and we can all do our bit to ‘walk the talk’ and reduce non recyclable garbage.†### CONTACTS |