1999-2000 Annual Report, Inland Revenue Department
(Text Only)

Environmental Report

 

Green Management Policy | Environmental Housekeeping Measures | Way forward

Green Management Policy

The Department is committed to be an excellent tax administration that ensures its services to the public as well as internal operations are conducted in an environmentally responsible manner. In pursuance of this commitment, the Department has adopted the following principles:

1. All the Department's operations should be in compliance with the relevant environmental protection ordinances.
2. The Department should avoid, reduce or control environmental pollution arising from its day-to-day working practice. In particular, it should exercise the principles of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle in the consumption of materials.
3. The Department will require its contractors to adopt and implement sound environmental management systems and pollution control measures in support of an environmental responsibility for its service.
4. The Department will ensure that all staff are aware of its Green Management Policy and will provide information about its Policy and initiatives to those who are interested.
5. The Department will provide training for staff to increase awareness and promote continual improvement in protecting the environment and preventing pollution.

Environmental Housekeeping Measures

During the year, the Department had further tightened up its existing green house-keeping measures, including:

• Energy saving

  The Department replaced all its 36,365 light tubes in Revenue Tower by electronic ballast type which will save one third of the energy. Furthermore, the Department has replaced the dry cells for its 96 fire exit illuminates in Revenue Tower by long lasting rechargeable batteries.

• Reduction in waste and paper consumption

  To minimize paper consumption and waste generation, staff were encouraged to promulgate more internal documents and information through the Department’s computer network. In addition, the Department replaced all the thermal paper fax machines with plain paper type. The Department would also procure more and more recyclable office items and stationery like recycled paper, environmental-friendly batteries and correction fluids.

  During the year, envelope consumption for the Department was reduced by 1,639,748 units and that for computer plain stationery by 4,000,000 folds. More and more employers used the Department’s software to file employer’s returns in magnetic format. In 1999-2000, about 18,000 employers used this format to submit returns in respect of some 530,000 employees without also submitting paper copies. This saved a massive amount of paper sheet. Some 8,000 sheets of A4 paper will be saved annually by the implementation of the Electronic Tax Reserve Certificates Scheme in September 1999. Furthermore, the Computer Section suppressed the production of 60,000 sheets of microfiche under the Business Registration System and Property Tax System. The microfiche was substituted by electronic files.

• Paper waste recovery

  The Department has arranged with the contractor to collect waste paper for recycling. In 1999-2000, about 500,000 kilograms of waste paper was collected.

• Air quality

  The Department has arranged with the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department to conduct Indoor Air Quality Measurement yearly. The recent test was done in November 1999 and the results were generally satisfactory. Smoking in the Department’s premises has been prohibited since 1996.

• Promote green awareness

  Internal guidelines on the recycling of waste paper, addressing various aspects of resource consumption and waste reduction during daily operations have been circulated regularly for staff’s compliance. Supervisors have been reminded in meetings to help enforcing environmental measures.

Way forward

With the onset of this new era, the Department continues to strive towards a paperless medium for its major tax fields and cash receipting system. While plans are in hand to further promote Electronic Service Delivery Scheme to the public, staff handbooks, circulars, notices as well as tax cases and rulings would be uploaded on the departmental LAN to facilitate internal communication. Furthermore, an electronic newspaper clipping service is being commissioned. The Department aims not only at reducing paper usage internally but also at extending the practice to the community by encouraging the public to communicate with us through electronic means.

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(Last updated/reviewed : August 30, 2001))